The double standard of the West in dealing with problems, is clearly stated by Mama Mongella.
Africa, Britain lock horns over Mugabe
2007-09-22 09:18:04
By Patrick Kisembo
Tanzania has said it is likely to skip the European Union- Africa summit to be held in Lisbon, Portugal in December if Zimbabwe will not be invited.
The stand was given yesterday Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation Seif Ali Iddi in Dar es Salaam.
Iddi said the position of Tanzania and other member states of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) was that all African countries must be invited.
`We insisted to the organisers of the summit?Portugal? to ensure that Zimbabwe is invited to the summit. This is the stand of all African states and Tanzania,` he said.
He said they told Portugal that Zimbabwe should not be isolated because it was one of the African countries which were stakeholders of the summit.
`We as Tanzania do not want to see Zimbabwe left out. If it will not be invited, chances are that we might not attend the summit,` said Iddi.
Zambia`s President Levy Mwanawasa announced on Thursday that he would boycott the Lisbon summit if President Mugabe would not be invited.
`I will not go to Portugal if Mugabe is not allowed to attend. I do not know how many of us (African leaders) will be prepared to go to Portugal without Mugabe,` Mwanawasa had told reporters.
Mwanawasa`s warning came just hours after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced that he would boycott the summit if President Mugabe would be present.
Brown said if allowed to attend, Mugabe would undermine the summit by diverting attention from the important issues that need to be resolved.
But speaking to this paper yesterday, Iddi said African countries would not force Brown or anyone from the West to attend the summit.
`It is their own decision whether to participate or not. We cannot force them. But we need all African leaders, including Mugabe, to be invited because we think it is the right forum where we can talk about African issues,` said Iddi.
Speaking in Brussels on Thursday, the Tanzanian President of the Pan-African Parliament, Dr. Gertrude Mongella, accused Brown of `threatening` behaviour towards Africa following his refusal to attend the summit if President Robert Mugabe attends.
Dr. Gertrude Mongella, who is attending a Socialist Group conference in Brussels, accused Brown of arm-twisting Zimbabwe.
`We do know there are some problems. But if somebody wants to arm-twist Zimbabwe, that`s not the best way to solve the problems.
`I think this is again another way of manipulating Africa. Zimbabwe is a nation which got independence,` Mongella said adding, `I think in the developed countries there are so many countries doing things which not all of us subscribe to. We have seen the Iraq war, not everyone accepts what is being done in Iraq.
But do we need to go sulking and not going to conferences`?
She said heads of state should go there, meet, develop a dialogue, an open dialogue, a very committed dialogue to solve problems rather than threatening each other by going or not going.
`So if we want to talk about the people of Zimbabwe, we should not punish them by actions of their leaders,` she said adding, `so I think if we want to move in the right direction, with the African way of doing things, you discuss things under a tree till you agree.
So if somebody does not come under a tree to discuss, that is not the African way of doing things.`
The Zimbabwe UN Ambassador Boniface Chidyausiku told BBC yesterday that President Mugabe would defy Prime Minister Gordon Brown?s boycott threat if invited to attend the summit.
Chidyausiku said Brown had `no right to dictate` who should be at the meeting in Portugal in December.
Portugal, which holds the rotating EU presidency, is keen to invite every African leader to be at the summit on 8 and 9 December, but may let the African Union decide who should attend.
It is the Portuguese Prime Minister, Jose Socrates, an EU president who wants to launch a dialogue with Africa at the first EU-Africa summit for seven years.
Britain is accusing President Mugabe of abuse of power and torturing and intimidating political opposition.
President Mugabe and some other top government officials have been banned from entering member countries of the European Union.
· SOURCE: Guardian