The Morgan Tsvangirai Wikileaks cables-Part Six

Is President Robert Mugabe likely to take Zimbabwe down with him?

That is what Movement for Democratic Change  leader Morgan Tsvangirai said 15 years ago in a letter to United States President George Bush shortly after Tsvangirai has lost the presidential elections to Mugabe but described the elections as the biggest fraud in history.

“As Mugabe totters towards the sunset of his biological and political life, he seems determined to take Zimbabwe down with him,” Tsvangirai wrote.

“Dictators such as Robert Mugabe do not care about the general welfare of those that they rule and oppress.

“Instead, an impoverished and hopeless people precisely offer the kind of environment in which dictators like Robert Mugabe thrive.

“That is the real ‘self-interest’ of Robert Mugabe. He cannot be expected to reform himself out of a dictatorship, which he deliberately constructed and constantly nourishes.”

 Tsvangirai said Nigeria and South Africa must put pressure on Mugabe under the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.

“The leaders of South Africa and Nigeria must be honest with themselves, with Zimbabwe and with the international commitment. If they are reluctant to apply meaningful peer pressure on Mugabe, what guarantee does the international community have that any other murderous African dictator would be treated differently?

“We suggest that as a mark of seriousness and good faith, South Africa and Nigeria, the two key players in NEPAD with the most real leverage on Mugabe, should become more assertive and encourage Mugabe to return to the negotiating table…….

“NEPAD should not offer succor and comfort to dictatorial regimes that are precisely the root cause of Africa’s present predicament. The present Government of Zimbabwe constitutes a serious threat to the central tenets of NEPAD.”

Below are the first 120 of the 726 wikileaks cables on Tsvangirai.

Continued next page

(176 VIEWS)