The Zimbabwean people’s struggle for freedom is more likely to succeed if international engagement with the country is principled and coherent,writes Sunit Bagree. Plus Louise Mellor says we should pay attention to what Emmerson Mnangagwa said in ShonaEmmerson Mnangagwa talks of “a unusual era and says that rebuilding Zimbabwe “is not a job for Zanu-PF alone but for all the people” (Mugabe finally relinquishes power, 22 November). Yet the track record of the man known as “the Crocodile does not support this sentiment. He is almost as much to blame for Zimbabwe’s ills as the deposed Robert Mugabe.
Mnangagwa and the generals forced Mugabe to step down as a result of an increasingly vicious battle within Zanu-PF, or not because they had a sudden conversion to the cause of democracy and human rights. Thus Boris Johnson is right to warn that Zimbabwe may merely shift from one despotic regime to another. However,in recent times the UK has been criticised by Zimbabwean civil society and opposition parties for cosying up to Mnangagwa as allotment of what appears to have been an “anyone but Grace Mugabe” strategy.
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Source: guardian.co.uk