Former President of Sierra Leone Ahmad Tejan Kabbah told United States embassy officials that the international community should accept that Zimbabwe law and not international law should determine what had to be done about Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s withdrawal from the 2008 presidential elections run-off.
But whatever happened, the international community should avoid a vacuum of leadership that could lead to chaos and be impossible to manage.
Kabbah said he had spoken with Tsvangirai before the 29 March elections and Tsvangirai recognised that President Robert Mugabe was the father of the country and affirmed that he was not out for revenge.
He said that when he told Mugabe what Tsvangirai had said Mugabe was very pleased.
Full cable:
Viewing cable 08HARARE546, HARARE: OBSERVERS’ PERSPECTIVES CONTRAST SHARPLY
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VZCZCXRO2974
OO RUEHDU RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHSB #0546/01 1771522
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 251522Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY HARARE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3081
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHAR/AMEMBASSY ACCRA 2084
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA 2204
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0746
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 1481
RUEHDK/AMEMBASSY DAKAR 1839
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 2260
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 4691
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHMFISS/EUCOM POLAD VAIHINGEN GE
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1350
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 000546
SIPDIS
AF/S FOR S. HILL
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU
ADDIS ABABA FOR ACSS
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR E. LOKEN AND L. DOBBINS
STATE PASS TO NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR B. PITTMAN
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/25/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL ASEC PHUM KDEM ZI
SUBJECT: HARARE: OBSERVERS’ PERSPECTIVES CONTRAST SHARPLY
Classified By: Ambassador James D. McGee for reason 1.4(d).
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Against the backdrop of a unanimous UN
Security Council statement noting concern over
politically-motivated violence in Zimbabwe and the
announcement by opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai that
he will not participate in the June 27 presidential run-off,
poloffs met separately with heads of the African Union (AU)
and Pan-African Parliament (PAP) observer missions to seek
their impression of recent developments and thoughts on next
steps. The heads of mission relayed distinctly different
perspectives. AU Head of Mission and former President of
Sierra Leone Ahmad Tejan Kabbah was defensive of Mugabe’s
legacy, looking to downplay violence and support a government
of national unity. Kabbah also noted that Zimbabwean law,
not international law, should determine the legal
consequences of Tsvangirai’s decision to boycott. Conversely,
PAP Head of Mission and Swazi MP Marwick Khumalo stated that
the election environment was decidedly not free or fair, and
that the PAP would continue to monitor the situation through
Friday in an effort to prevent the election’s
“legitimization” by ZANU-PF. END SUMMARY.
——————————————— ——-
AU Head: Don’t blow the violence “out of proportion”
——————————————— ——-
¶2. (C) On June 27, poloff joined the incoming Dutch DCM and
Dutch poloff for a meeting with the Head of the African Union
Observer Mission, former Sierra Leone President Ahmad Tejan
Kabbah. Kabbah confirmed that the 35-person delegation had
arrived on June 21 and had yet to have any substantive
meetings or deploy any observers to the field. Kabbah
related his plans to meet with the SADC head of mission and
Zimbabwe’s Attorney General soon, preferably on June 25.
Kabbah stated he also planned to meet key stakeholders
(though he noted that he had yet to arrange any additional
meetings, which he blamed on “campaign schedules”), and
remain “objective and focus on peace.” Kabbah noted that he
believed it was imperative to avoid placing blame for the
violence or “blow out of proportion what may not exist.”
Alluding to recent statements by Mugabe, Kabbah lamented the
“polarized environment’s scary messages,” that could mean
disaster for the country.
¶3. (C) However, Kabbah stated that it was his priority to
examine the “legal implications” of Tsvangirai’s withdrawal
from the run-off. He was adamant that the international
community must accept “Zimbabwean law, not international law”
on the issue and avoid a “vacuum of leadership that could
lead to chaos and be impossble to manage.” Kabbah confirmed
that, for him,the final legal authority on the matter would
be Zimbabwe’s Attorney General.
¶4. (C) Kabbah cast his role in the coming days as a
mediator, noting that he arrived in Zimbabwe believing that,
no matter who won the June 27 contest, “some kind of
government of national unity would be needed in which the
winner brought the other in, or his people, to work for the
good of the country.” Kabbah highlighted his pre-March 29
meeting with Tsvangirai, in which the opposition leader
“recognized that Mugabe was the father of the country and
affirmed he (Tsvangirai) was not out for revenge,” as well as
a subsequent conversation with Mugabe in which he relayed
Tsvangirai’s message. He said Mugabe was “pleased.” Kabbah
appealed to the Dutch DCM to arrange a meeting between Kabbah
and Tsvangirai (then sheltered at the Netherlands Chancery);
the DCM replied that he would forward the message.
——————————
Rumors of U.S. and UK Troops
——————————
HARARE 00000546 002 OF 003
¶5. (C) Kabbah asked what the Dutch and U.S. Missions had
observed and was informed about incidents of violence and
concerns raised by the SADC delegation. The Dutch DCM
mentioned reports of torture and death, which were met with
expressions of doubt by AU staff in the room. Kabbah again
noted that there were many “rumors” in Zimbabwe, and told us
he had heard disturbing reports that the UK and U.S. were
deploying armed forces to Botswana with the intent of
destabilizing the Zimbabwean government. When asked to
expound, Kabbah relented that he had “not put a lot of faith”
in the report.
————-
“No problems”
————-
¶6. (C) Although he had not yet had a formal meeting with the
SADC team, Kabbah stated that in his recent informal
conversations with the Angolan head of the observer mission,
he had “not been given the impression of problems” related to
access and understood that SADC was prepared to continue its
observation of the election. (NOTE: This is in
contradiction to emboff meetings with SADC observers, who
have expressed grave concern about the election environment.
END NOTE.) If Tsvangirai was willing to contest the
election, Kabbah confirmed that the AU was prepared to
continue to monitor it, but stated that he could not yet say
how long the mission would remain in Zimbabwe under the
current circumstances. Kabbah did caveat this comment,
hinting at some consideration that the violence might be a
reality, noting that he was not willing to place his life or
the lives of his team in danger.
——————————————— —
Unperturbed by lack of local election observers
——————————————— —
¶7. (C) When asked by the Dutch DCM whether he was concerned
about the barriers to accreditation experienced by domestic
observers such as the Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network
(ZESN), Kabbah reported that he was unfamiliar with ZESN but
that in his experience, local civil society organizations and
domestic observers were not capable of objectivity. Kabbah
stated he met with some organizations during the AU mission
for the March 29 election and did not have plans to meet with
civil society during this trip.
——————————————— ———-
PAP head fears observers’ presence legitimizes election
——————————————— ———-
¶8. (C) In stark contrast, the head of the Pan-African
Parliament’s (PAP) 64-member team, Swazi MP Marwick T.
Khumalo, said that “there is nothing fair… there is nothing
free about this election.” Khumalo reported that he had
pulled his observers back to Harare on Monday June 24 after
Tsvangirai announced he was pulling out. PAP feared that if
it observed the presidential election on June 27, the Mugabe
regime would twist it into a “legitimization” of the
election. However, he was hesitant to send anyone home since
the Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) had not officially
called off the election. Khumalo said he planned to keep his
teams in Harare and do some observation of the situation in
the coming days, and that PAP would issue a report on
Saturday or Sunday when its observers left. The report was
currently being drafted based on reports from observers who
had been in rural areas since arriving. Khumalo genuinely
feared that he and his team would be in danger once their
report documenting the violence and uneven playing field was
released.
HARARE 00000546 003 OF 003
¶9. (C) Regarding Tsvangirai’s pull-out, Khumalo opined that
Tsvangirai made the right decision at the right time. He
listed several prominent African leaders who had already
condemned the environment and said that if he had stayed in,
it would only have helped legitimize an illegitimate Mugabe
victory. Asked about the head f the AU mission, Khumalo’s
face clouded over wih disgust and annoyance. He sighed that
Kabbah as a politician, too close to Mugabe to be objectie.
When the Dutch DCM suggested that Kabbah was aiting on a
response from the Zimbabwean Attorne General regarding the
election’s legality, Khumlo laughed and shook his head and
commented thatthe Attorney General was going to toe the
ZANU-P party line.
¶10. (C) Dutch poloff asked Khumalo if he planned to keep PAP
observers in the fieldfor the three by-elections that will
decide three parliamentary seats that are still being
contested by MDC candidates. Although he said they were
considering it, it was clear he had not given the matter much
thought. (NOTE: Since local observers have not been
accredited, if these international observers do not go to the
polling places, it will be easy for ZANU-PF to steal these
three parliamentary seats. END NOTE.)
——-
COMMENT
——-
¶11. (C) The AU’s disingenuous perspective is apparently due
to Kabbah’s longstanding friendship with Mugabe. It’s also
significant that the mission is relatively small, has had no
recent observation experience in Zimbabwe, and to our
knowledge traveled relatively little outside of Harare. The
PAP was present for the March 29 election and issued a
relatively objective report. It traveled more extensively
around Zimbabwe in preparation for the runoff election than
did the AU, and from our perspective has a good understanding
of the situation on the ground. Its influence, however, is
limited–most people are unaware of its existence. SADC has
had almost 400 observers in Zimbabwe, many of them deployed
in the provinces, and its report will have much more
significance than those of the AU and PAP. We will report on
SADC’s observation septel. END COMMENT.
McGee
(16 VIEWS)
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