US embassy cable - 04HARARE435

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 000435 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF, AF/S, AND AF/PD 
NSC FOR SENIOR DIRECTOR FRAZER 
YAOUNDE PLEASE PASS MALABO 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/11/2008 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PHUM, MOPS, EAIR, ZI, EG 
SUBJECT: FOREIGN MINISTER MUDENGE FULMINATES ON THE BBC, 
MERCENARIES AND SANCTIONS 
 
REF: HARARE 00417 
 
Classified By: DCM REWHITEHEAD DUE TO 1.5 (B) AND (D) 
 
1. (sbu) Summary.  Foreign Minister Stanislaus Mudenge 
convened the diplomatic corps on short notice March 10, with 
the press in attendance.  Mudenge's presentation began with a 
scathing attack on the BBC for a recent Panorama program, 
then moved on to the detention of a planeload of mercenaries, 
whom he warned faced capital punishment if found guilty.  He 
next turned to the extension of EU and expansion of US 
targeted sanctions, which he claimed were intended to destroy 
Zimbabwe's economy and hurt the Zimbabwean people.  Mudenge 
read a passage from the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic 
Recovery Act (ZDERA) as purported proof and accused the U.S. 
of supporting foreign media outlets opposed to the GOZ.  He 
concluded by blaming the United Kingdom for alienating 
Zimbabwe from the US and EU and insisting that it is 
everyone's duty to help the HMG and GOZ patch up their 
differences.  It was vintage Mudenge -- sound and fury 
signifying nothing new.  MFA staff passed out two handouts to 
the assembled diplomats and press, including one that made a 
clumsy attempt to link the USG to the seized aircraft.  End 
summary. 
 
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Down with the BBC 
----------------- 
 
2.  (sbu) After wishing the assembled diplomats a happy new 
year and offering the view that things in Zimbabwe were 
getting better, Mudenge turned his attention to the February 
29 edition of the BBC's Panorama program filmed secretly at 
National Youth Service Training Centers (more commonly known 
as Green Bomber schools in local parlance).  He accused the 
documentary of conveying blatant lies about widespread 
abduction, rape, and violence at the centers, which he 
characterized as educational institutions.  He insisted that 
the centers were unable to accept the hundreds of thousands 
of applicants clamoring for entrance and said that everyone 
was free to question chaplains, matrons, nurses and police 
about what went on in the centers.  Warming to the subject, 
he observed that the "vicious lies" of the BBC were 
coincident with the meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission 
in Geneva and were intended to pressure the English cricket 
team not to travel to Zimbabwe.  He concluded that the BBC 
should be ashamed.  He cited other articles in the UK press 
attacking Mugabe and his wife, terming them orchestrated 
falsehoods intended to tarnish Zimbabwe's image, "consciously 
written to create a certain negative impression."  A handout 
expanded on this theme. 
 
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Death to Mercenaries 
-------------------- 
 
3.  (sbu) Mudenge next addressed a "more serious" topic, the 
seizure of an aircraft and the detention of 64 (he said 67) 
men among whom there were "known professional mercenaries." 
Mudenge said that there was evidence that the group had 
planned to support a coup attempt against the government of 
Equatorial Guinea before redeploying for a second operation 
in the DRC.  He explained that the GOZ had acted under an OAU 
protocol on mercenaries that the GOZ ratified in 1992 that 
requires signatory governments to act against mercenary 
forces transiting their territories.  He continued that while 
the GOZ would respect the rights of the detainees, they would 
be subject to the severest penalties, including capital 
punishment, if found guilty.  Mudenge cited the evil of 
diamonds that had damaged DRC, Sierra Leone and Angola and 
said that he feared the evil of petroleum might wreak similar 
havoc in the Gulf of Guinea. 
 
4.  (sbu) Mudenge did not touch on who, or what country, 
might have supported the operation, but a handout (that we 
have faxed to AF/S) provided the names of some of the 
purported mercenaries, the nationalities of those detained 
(all from SADC countries), and the itinerary of the aircraft 
from South Africa.  The handout also implied that the seizure 
of the aircraft was a set-up triggered by earlier attempts by 
two of the detainees to purchase arms and ammunition from 
Zimbabwean sources.  The handout also contained the following 
passage: "The US registered plane was a former US Air Force 
aircraft.  It was then sold to Dodeson (msp) Aviation of the 
US, a company with links to the US Government."  In a 
question and answer session following Mudenge's presentation, 
the DCM challenged Mudenge on this, asking on what basis this 
assertion had been made.  Mudenge hedged, saying that this 
was the outcome of initial inquiries. 
 
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Down with Sanctions 
------------------- 
 
5.  (sbu) Mudenge next turned his attention to the recent EU 
decision to extend/expand sanctions, along with the US.  He 
called this action misguided and said it showed "hate of 
ordinary people in Zimbabwe."  While the EU and US 
hypocritically pretended that the sanctions were targeted, 
they were in truth intended to harm the ordinary Zimbabwean. 
He said that denial of balance of payment support could 
hardly be labeled anything other than a sanction and then 
read a passage from ZDERA Section 4(c) opposing USG support 
for multilateral lending to or bilateral debt 
reduction/cancellation for Zimbabwe.  He said that while the 
authors of sanctions claimed GOZ mismanagement had put the 
Zimbabwean economy in its current plight, the fact remained 
that there was a concerted effort to destroy Zimbabwe's 
economy. 
 
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Public Enemies Number Two and Number One 
---------------------------------------- 
 
6.  (sbu) Mudenge commented briefly on the US and UK, in that 
order.  He read from Section 5.(a)(1) of ZDERA on supporting 
an independent and free press and electronic media in 
Zimbabwe and said that the GOZ knew that the USG had provided 
support to Studio Seven (VOA) and Radio Short-wave Africa, 
two foreign based broadcasters that spewed out anti-ZANU-PF 
and pro-MDC propaganda on a daily basis.  The reality was 
that before outsiders insisted on talking about human rights 
in Zimbabwe, they needed to talk first about outside 
interference in Zimbabwe's internal affairs.  The crux of the 
problem, he insisted, was the UK's refusal to honor 
commitments made at Lancaster House.  Until the strained 
relations between the GOZ and UK were repaired, the issue of 
Zimbabwe and its unfair international isolation would not go 
away.  He called on Africans and Europeans and North 
Americans to pressure both the GOZ and UK to resolve their 
differences -- otherwise this contagion between Africans and 
Europeans would spread "like AIDS."  In the nearest thing to 
a concession, Mudenge said that the situation would be 
resolved when the GOZ and UK "act like grown ups."  He 
concluded with a bizarre non sequitur, saying he was unsure 
whether his final word should be the quote from Gone With the 
Wind -- "Let the dogs bark, the caravan has moved on" -- or 
Clark Cable's words -- "Frankly my dear, I don't give a 
damn." 
 
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Comment 
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7.  (c) With the exception of the remarks on the detained 
mercenaries, this was vintage Mudenge hyperbole and 
repetitions on tired themes.  It was mildly noteworthy that 
he admitted that Zimbabwe was in difficult economic straits, 
and there was the faintest echo of concession in his call for 
the world to straighten out things between Zimbabwe and the 
UK and for these two -- not just the UK -- to try and work 
things out.  Beyond this, however, his bombast and posturing 
did nothing to set the tone for reconciliation.  Not 
surprisingly, he quoted ZDERA out of context, and the 
language in the second handout that attempted to link the USG 
to the aircraft seized in Harare was the most direct effort 
yet by the GOZ to misuse this incident for propaganda 
purposes.  We do not know if Mudenge cleared this language in 
advance but note, to use his own phrase, that it was 
"consciously written to create a certain negative 
impression." 
SULLIVAN