Botswana was put on the defensive when the Zimbabwean government accused it of harbouring training camps for the Movement for Democratic Change and lodged a petition with the Southern African Development Community to investigate the issue.
Botswana Foreign Minister Pandu Skelemani expressed his concerns and exasperation over the fallacy of the entire SADC process with Western diplomats and handed over a copy of the 32-page report that his government had compiled to the United States embassy.
Skelemani had hoped to deliver the report to his SADC ministerial-level counterparts but the Foreign Ministers representing the SADC troika did not turn up. Instead a much more junior delegation turned up.
According to the embassy, the Botswana report dismissed Zimbabwe’s allegations saying they hinged on generalised accusations which were not backed up by any tangible evidence.
It said the allegations were based on doctored and manufactured evidence and doctored photos and coerced testimony.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 08GABORONE1103, WHY IS SADC SO SAD?
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Reference ID |
Created |
Released |
Classification |
Origin |
O 171534Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY GABORONE
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5437
INFO SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
AMEMBASSY LONDON
AMEMBASSY OTTAWA
AMEMBASSY PARIS
HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
USEU BRUSSELS
C O N F I D E N T I A L GABORONE 001103
STATE FOR AF/S, ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/17/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV EAID SOCI BC ZI
SUBJECT: WHY IS SADC SO SAD?
Classified By: DCM Philip R. Drouin; Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
¶1. (C) Summary: It is now “Festive Season” holiday time in
Botswana and across Southern Africa, but it is also silly
season when it comes to SADC. The SADC Organ on Politics,
Defense, and Security’s insistence on a full-scale
investigation of and report on GOZ allegations that Botswana
is helping harbor and train teams of Zimbabwean opposition
(mainly MDC-T) members underscores the increasingly
ineffective nature of the Southern African Development
Community. Meanwhile, no such SADC scrutiny is being
directed Mugabe’s way, while Zimbabwe melts down deeper into
crisis and despair. ‘Tis the season for mirth and merriment,
but not when it comes SADC’s leadership, or lack thereof, on
Zimbabwe. So sad. End Summary.
¶2. (C) As Southern Africa descends into its annual
self-imposed “Festive Season” slumber, officials from most
Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states
and the Gaborone-based SADC Secretariat have already largely
checked out when it comes to any positive action related to
Zimbabwe. However, apart from the human tragedy and the
widespread cholera outbreak now underway in Botswana’s
neighbor to the east, another SADC-induced outrage lingers
here — the GOB is spending a lot of time and effort refuting
Zimbabwe’s petition to SADC’s Organ on Politics, Defence, and
Security that Botswana is harboring training camps for “MDC
Terrorists” to promote a violent state of emergency and chaos
across the border into Zimbabwe. The GOB has attempted to
deflect these specious claims in a lawyerly and responsible
manner, even though the SADC Organ troika of Swaziland,
Mozambique, and Angola appears to have dumped a “guilty until
proven innocent” load on Botswana’s doorstep, while Mugabe’s
Zimbabwe seems to have received a free pass. There has been
no SADC mention of or impetus to investigate the
disappearance of 18 MDC officials/members, or the actual
extent of the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe. And now
Mugabe has proclaimed Zimbabwe “cholera free,” while the
disease’s death toll mounts to nearly 1,000, yet no one at
the Secretariat or among the SADC leaders (most notably
current SADC Chair Motlanthe) will contradict his brazen
denial of reality.
¶3. (C) On December 12 GOB Foreign Minister Phandu Skelemani
shared with Western diplomats (UK, France, Germany, EU Chiefs
of Mission and the U.S. Charge/DCM) his concerns and
exasperation over the fallacy of this entire SADC process.
With nothing to hide and in the spirit of full transparency
and respect for rule of law, Botswana’s former Attorney
General Skelemani informed us that his Ministry (with many in
the MFA Task Force having labored long hours and over
weekends recently) has compiled a detailed, 32-page “Response
By Botswana to the Allegations by Zimbabwe,” dated December
10, 2008. Skelemani gave us a copy (marked GOB “Secret”
throughout), and we will send a copy to AF/S. He had hoped
to deliver this report to SADC Ministerial-level counterparts
whom he expected to arrive in Gaborone on December 11, but
Foreign Ministers did not come representing the SADC Organ
troika members and Zimbabwe, rather a much more junior
delegation showed up instead. This did not sit well with
Skelemani — the GOB has taken this exercise seriously, but
SADC and Zimbabwe do not appear to be doing the same, even
though it is nothing but an attempt to divert attention away
from Mugabe. It is our understanding that Skelemani wants to
present Botswana’s findings and defense to a more senior
board of examiners, and he has conveyed his displeasure about
this in correspondence back to SADC and the Organ.
¶4. (C) Some highlighted excerpts from Botswana’s brief
include the GOB’s assertion that “By way of general
observation, Zimbabwe’s submission hinges not only on
generalised accusations which are not backed up with tangible
facts, but also on distorted and/or manufactured evidence.”
The GOB points also to doctored photos and the coerced
testimony of GOZ “witnesses,” and continues that “the DVDs
presented by Zimbabwe as part of the evidence cannot, by any
standard be considered admissible and authentic evidence.
They merely present poorly stage-managed interviews.”
Nowhere does the GOB report attempt to hide the fact that
Morgan Tsvangirai has spent quite a bit of time of late in
Botswana (he is here now and has been seen out and about
around Gaborone, albeit discreetly). Rather the GOB suggests
that Tsvangirai’s visits to Botswana, much like his stops in
“other SADC and African countries (are) to brief the
authorities about the unfolding political and economic
situation in Zimbabwe. Representatives of ZANU-PF have also
done the same.” The GOB’s official “Response” also
dismisses the GOZ’s contention that Botswana harbors “hostile
radio stations,” noting that VOA in Selebi-Phikwe is a relay
station for an international broadcaster much like BBC, RFI,
Radio Netherlands, and Deutsche Welle, which all have
presence in other African countries and is “an
internationally established and accepted norm.”
¶5. (C) Comment: Many Batswana, NGOs, and other international
observers posted here perceive moribund SADC as “not serious,
useless, a joke” when it comes to anything related to
Zimbabwe. This whole episode of SADC taking Botswana to task
at Zimbabwe’s behest, while Mugabe escapes more widespread
SADC scrutiny or condemnation just serves to call into
question SADC’s own reputation as a credible regional entity.
It does process-related protocol and donor-driven
conferences/talkathons fairly well, not to mention the annual
SADC Ministerial and Summit and extraodinary meetings, but it
has “gone missing” in taking any true and meaningful
leadership role on the political crisis in Zimbabwe. Mugabe
has his liberation struggle era allies throughout the
organization, so until this mindset evaporates do not expect
much change from SADC vis-a-vis Zimbabwe.
¶6. (C) For its part, Botswana has continued, with support
from Tanzania, Zambia, and Lesotho but also in isolation, its
principled stand on Zimbabwe, while providing millions of
pulas for humanitarian assistance there. The GOB has also
called for a calming of the heated rhetoric between the two
Southern African neighbors that share so much in family ties
and common destiny, while advocating on behalf of the
well-being of the Zimbabwean people. We understand that many
expatriate Zimbabweans now resident here are preparing to
travel, with loads of goods and supplies in tow, to try to
bring some much needed holiday cheer back home. Meanwhile,
the new SADC Secretariat headquarters continues to rise from
its construction site in central Gaborone, with its scheduled
occupancy later next year. But as we turn the page into 2009
all we seem to ask about SADC, is anybody home, is anybody
there, does anybody care? So sad. End Comment.
NOLAN
(17 VIEWS)
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