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STUNG by the failure of
Wednesday�s stayaway, visits by Nigerian and South African foreign ministers as
well as the softening of attitudes by some European countries towards the
Zimbabwean Government, MDC leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai has threatened a
bloodbath in the country.
Addressing diplomats, mostly from European countries at a hastily arranged meeting in Harare yesterday, Mr Tsvangirai said: "I want to say once again, that we have reached a stage whereby we can no longer counsel patience on such a dangerously restive population. "There is clearly a red light flashing for the Mugabe regime to stop. There is a gathering storm of the people�s anger. We have no power to stop it and we refuse to take responsibility for whatever transpires," he said. Mr Tsvangirai�s comments were also prompted by a scathing attack by some white members of his party who reportedly felt that he was not doing enough to bring about a change of government. According to the opposition Daily News, MDC members from the affluent Borrowdale suburb told Mr Tsvangirai that "tell the world at every opportunity that Mugabe is illegitimate, otherwise people are frustrated with your lack of aggression to inspire the suffering majority to rise as a nation. The NCA has been courageous enough." Mr Tsvangirai then hastily convened yesterday�s meeting that was attended by diplomats from Britain, Germany, Switzerland, France, the United States, South Africa and Nigeria, among other countries. In conformity with the advice, Mr Tsvangirai alleged that a tragedy was unfolding in the country and the international community and influential countries in Africa were not doing anything. "Tragically, supposedly leading countries in Africa, such as South Africa and Nigeria are now on the forefront, chiding the international community for its condemnation of the brutal Mugabe regime; denying the existence of the tragic circumstances in which Zimbabweans find themselves; cheering Mugabe in the name of a dubious African brotherhood to go on perpetrating the outrage and waiting for the policies of the Mugabe regime to produce mass graves which they regard as an adequate and sufficient definition of the existence of a crisis in Zimbabwe," Mr Tsvangirai said. The MDC leader has been losing ground on the Zimbabwean political landscape with most of his supporters snubbing his party�s calls for mass action while the international community was slowly isolating him and embracing President Mugabe. He attacked Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, accusing them of dishonesty and of being impartial mediators. The MDC leader also took a swipe at France and Portugal and accused them of "toasting goblets of the blood of innocent women and children" by accepting Cde Mugabe as the legitimate President of Zimbabwe. The attack against France followed a cue from the British government�s indignation against the invitation of President Mugabe by French President Jacques Chirac, to attend a summit of African heads of State in Paris. South Africa and Nigeria were attacked for sending their foreign ministers to meet with President Mugabe this week before crucial meetings in London and South Africa to discuss the situation in Zimbabwe. The foreign ministers did not meet the MDC. Mr Tsvangirai said his party had been led into believing that Presidents Mbeki and Obasanjo were impartial brokers in the ill-fated inter-party dialogue they initiated soon after last year�s presidential election. "However, we now realise that the offer was nothing but a cynical and cruel act of deception. In pursuit of this desperate strategy, Presidents Obasanjo and Mbeki have now come out openly in support of Mugabe dictatorship against the people and forces of democracy in Zimbabwe. "There cannot and will never be any solution to the current crisis in Zimbabwe without the participation of the MDC as a party which carries the legitimate mandate of the people of Zimbabwe. Together with Mugabe, Presidents Obasanjo and Mbeki will bear heavy responsibility for the results of the catastrophic path that they are deliberately charting for Zimbabwe," said the MDC leader. There has already been a string of violent activities involving MDC Members of Parliament and supporters since last week as the opposition party stepped up efforts to tarnish the country's image. A Zanu-PF supporter died after an attack by alleged MDC supporters in Kuwadzana where a by-election is looming. A ZUPCO bus was torched in Highfield last week by suspected MDC members who were chanting the party�s slogans. Mr Tsvangirai appealed to the British government not to regard President Mbeki as an impartial broker. President Mbeki is scheduled to hold high level talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London soon. Mr Tsvangirai said Mr Mbeki had demonstrated his total unwillingness to come to terms with the situation in the country and that he was incapable of accessing the "deteriorating and dangerous Zimbabwe situation objectively". While praising the European Union and the United States for isolating and imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe, Mr Tsvangirai expressed dismay at the attitude of both France and Portugal. "It is a tragedy that France and Portugal are now repeating the same mistake. They are maintaining a tradition of siding and supporting dictatorships against the democratic aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe. He said the international community, through the United Nations Security Council, should intervene in resolving Zimbabwe�s problems. Some diplomats who attended the meeting said Mr Tsvangirai�s address was an attempt by the MDC to draw the attention of the international community to Zimbabwe ahead of the Cricket World Cup games to be played in Harare and Bulawayo next month. The Mulindwas
communication group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy" |
