via Bulawayo24 NEWS | African countries to boycott Europe-Africa Summit if Mugabe is not invited 01 February 2014
The Africa Union summit which, appointed President Robert Mugabe as the 1st Vice Chair of the African Union Bureau, has taken a position that African leaders will not attend the up-coming Europe-Africa Summit if the European grouping does not invite President Mugabe.
The leaders said in a grouping comprising the two sides no partner has the right to dictate to the other partner who should attend and who should not.
The AU also urged its members to “speak with one voice” against criminal proceedings at the International Criminal Court (ICC) against sitting presidents. Only Botswana has opposed the AU’s stand on the matter, made in a statement received on Saturday after a summit in Ethiopia attended by 34 leaders.
Kenya’s president and his deputy face charges of crimes against humanity at the ICC in The Hague for allegedly orchestrating post-election violence in which more than 1 000 people were killed following a disputed presidential election in late 2007.
President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy, William Ruto, deny the charges.
Last year, France has asked its EU partners to grant a temporary exemption from the ban to let Mugabe attend a Franco-African summit.
It feared other African nations would boycott the summit if Mugabe is not also invited.
The EU slapped its so-called targeted sanctions on Mugabe and his regime, accusing them of rigging elections, fomenting violence against political opponents and quashing human rights.
The EU has also criticised Mugabe’s policy of seizing white-owned farms to distribute land among landless blacks, which it says has contributed to Zimbabwe’s hunger crisis now threatening almost seven million people.
The summit also took a decision for African countries to align their educational programmes to the needs of the continent.
On peace and security, the African leaders said each of the five African regions should have a standby brigade that should take part in quelling conflicts in African states instead of relying on foreign western intervention which in some cases is manipulated to suit the interests of the foreign powers.
The Southern African region has already complied with the requirement while other regions are still putting measures in place to comply.
COMMENTS
This does not figure in my mind….The African countries who are desperately in need of help and investment are going to boycott a summit of countries that are trying to help them????!! Someone please explain this to me as this just does not make sense to me, and it seems obvious that the AU brought Mugabe in as vice chairman or president as a display of arrogance in the face of their adversity. Is anyone able to tell them how absolutely idiotic this is. If I had anything to do with the EU I would just tell them to go suck eggs!
What help does Africa need from EU? EU need our resources. So be it.
They should not dictate to us on democracy. Which Africa on this planet without Zimbabwe? Go back to the 1884 Berlin Conference when they sat down to share Africa among themselves and no African was invited.
@ Mucha
Then why is the EU providing food aid to your people?
Please arrange for a petition, to be signed by Zimbabweans and sent to all western nations stating explicitly that ‘We [the people of Zimbabwe] do not want your food aid under any conditions, even when our people are starving.’
Please do that immediately comrade. Western taxpayers shouldn’t be picking-up-the-pieces of your own mess, or through your own incompetence.
Don’t be simple. White countries are not trying to “help” anyone. Like anyone with common sense (though apparently not some Africans) each race is looking out for its own interest.
Leave a beggars alone sooner they will realise
Cancell the conference and tell the whole of the continent to stay at home with their begging baskets. Those few that have the balls to break rank, invite them and make it worth their while. The rest can go begging elsewhere. The majority are evil trash which one should not wish to associate with, never mind support.
The AU will be wise to find another voice that can express their dismay at the unbalanced distribution and use of resources and wealth globally, and the lower status accorded Africans. Mugabe is rightly a tainted figure; his citizens live under corruption in poverty and oppression. For these reasons, he is not listened to in the ‘West’.
I would let Mugabe go to Europe. Then if the EU are for real let them arrest him for all the abuses . That will teach the AU a lesson .
That’s a smart idea Nyoni!
Yes, that would be very good, make Mugabe’s pride be his downfall. It would be such sweet poetic justice – just like that Somali pirate they invited. He thought they were going to make a movie about his exploits and instead he was arrested by Interpol. Now he’s rotting in jail awaiting trial. Perhaps Mugabe should be made to wait 3 years for his trial to start, just like his judges did to the innocent MDC members.
Congratulations again to Botswana for breaking ranks with the ill-fated status-quo. Beggars should not be choosers. And the EU is wasting time and money financing projects that crumble the moment they are handed over to the recipinet governments for maintenance.
why don’t the western countries just switch off their aid for one year….
Our country Zimbabwe have got countless problems to be discussed and resolved in this Summit , we need to have a representative in this Summit and for that reason Mugabe must be part of the mingling. EU must not divide Africa , if they have got balls then they must not avoid the problem but they should confront Mugabe and address him accordingly , apart from doing so i support the call from AU to boycot the Summit .
All that the EU needs to do in response is deal with African nations on an individual basis – instead of through the AU [which represents a bunch of dictators and buffoons).
That way, investment can be made on an individual basis – such as sending good money to Botswana – and not to Zimbabwe.
This is a building stage and we need to invole both parties , if Mugabe is the worst enermy of the westerns he must be confronted in this Summit , Mugabe is not Zimbabwe , Zimbabwe is not ZANU PF , so why do they have to execlude Zimbabwe for the Zimbabweans in this Summit ???????
Where have you been these last 34 years? Clearly Mugabe has always claimed Zimbabwe as his own!
Let him go and then arrest him for crimes against humanity. Tell the rest of the beggars if they want aid to abide by the rules of civil decency. Better still tell him that no security will be provided and invite all the exiled zimbos to have go at him.
Our representative is the MIGHT GOD .he represents us home and away ,mugabe and his cronies had finished looting diamonds at chiyadzwa,spent that revenue for stealing elections and paying these Nikuv thugs ,now they are droping crocodile tears after they were not invited at the African EU SUMMIT,how many crucial meetings had they attended ,bringing home nothing .These guys decided not to reserve seats for the useless slumberes ,one day,is one day.
Divide and rule is the old Western policy which AU is very much aware of.
The AU doesn’t need the EU to divide them, because they stand for nothing. Given a chance each would cut a side deal in the shadows.
OK! Let Africa sort out Africa! You want $$$? Make it happen. Educate, earn, invest and grow. Get off the West’s teat and stop whinging about ancient imperialism. Tribalism and playing the eternal victim will destroy Africa just as it’s destroying the Middle East.
No, the EU will definitely cave in and let him go to the summit. Besides, it is not on the West’s interest to have a well-run, stable, prosperous Africa.
Corrupt Anglophiles / Francophiles like Bob, Amin and Bokassa are advantageous. Remember people, resources such as oil are finite! A growing Africa would use up too many of these.
i am loving it.
i agree, with pple, like); Nkwane,BRAIN Edwards,Khaya’bonina,Mucha et.c and so forth and so forth.sancation, can never be part of development, we DONT WANT SANCATION, poor, INNOCEN WOMEN AND CHILDREN SUFER AS A RESULT OF SANCATION, SO I DONT WANT SANCTION AT ALL. I mean,with, so much going+on in central Africa, zimbabwe, malawi,zambia, mozambique, south africa right at the brink of collapasing, the brink of civil war?congo,is one of them,sudan part of it, and why, BOtswana, is proving difficult to understand,difficult to co-oparate, let me remind you Botswana without your neighbours, you are nothing, zimbabwe and south africa has played a very important roll in support of your economy, interms of education and so forth Botswana should co-oparate or risk being isolated by the rest of the continent(AFRICA). BOTSWANA you have more gradutes,pple educated out-side botswana, but within Africa itself, so why cant you appriciate, others? botswana has to improve in its deallings. or face ISOLATION.FROM THE REST OF AFRICA.
@ chikhangalapfula moses shoko
Oh – Botswana has ‘to improve in its dealings’? What are you smoking comrade? Would ‘improve in its dealings’ mean allowing electoral fraud? Would this mean allowing human rights abuses? Would this mean letting high level corruption – and incompetence – remain in place because we ‘are all brothers’?
Small wonder Zimbabwe has been isolated internationally with morons like you in abundance in that country.
“Besides, it is not on the West’s interest to have a well-run, stable, prosperous Africa.”
Why not ? Please explain.
Well, Don. After many years it is the only logical conclusion. Mugabe has been murdering innocent civilians since before he even came to power. Since the 1970s.
Margaret Thatcher could have prevented his ascent to power as she knew full well of the atrocities he had committed BEFORE 1980. She and the West had other options and refused to consider them.
She and the rest of the West also kept quiet as he slaughtered people in Matabeleland over a period of 6 years! And again the West remained silent when he brutalised political opponents, famers and the urban poor during Murambatsvina.
I am of the firm belief that “natural resource competition” is a factor is the West’s refusal to engage these murderous dictators (even via proxy forces). After all, look how Chinese demand has caused commodity prices to sky rocket. Would a stable Africa which retains/imports rather than exports resources be a advantage? I think not.
Yes, I guess you’re right – Africa will always be the victim because she cannot summon the excellence to rise up and earn her place amongst the other equals! Africa proves over and over again how petty, small minded and backward it truly can be. It seems like most Africans would rather fight each other, then compete on the world stage.
Hahaha. A rather sweeping statement, but anyway, that wasn’t quite what I was getting at, the “victim mentality, etc.” The point I was making was that,”all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”(Burke). And sadly, many good people could have done, or even said, something. They didn’t.
There is no risk of the ASU creating a stable , well-run , prosperous Africa. As the worms keep crawling out of the jar in terms of revelations of grotesque salaries at the top of parastatals and public offices the EU cannot possibly be interested in being blackmailed by so called African solidarity. And , oh , isn’t it the prerogative of the host to decide who gets invited to the party , not up to the potential guests. Are there really still those who think the rest of the world “needs” Africa more than Africa needs the rest of the world. Come on EU , give the old men a wake up call , let them stay at home and sulk
The Shona gukurahundi’s desperation to visit the west is unparalled. Now he wants to go to Europe via the backdoor of being the first vice president of the AU?
This is unbelievable!
Again this confused Mthwakazi , Shona people have got nothing to with this , you always claim that you are more educated than other people , then why can’t you act better and do away from racial discrimination .
This story only serves to illustrate why Africa is considered the “dark continent, incapable of self rule”.
We have a situation here where Mugabe has blatantly rigging the election and the West, notably US, Canada, Australia and the EU, have condemned Mugabe for this. Even the AU election observers have criticized Mugabe for failing to produce the all important voters’ roll in time. At least one month before the election, the observer team said in their report.
Mugabe failed to produce the voters’ roll and elections were held without one. Nearly a million potential voters were denied the right to vote because their names were not on the roll although they had registered to vote. They constituted 33% of the 3 million cast votes and therefore would have made a difference to the result considering Mugabe’s winning margin was less than a million.
The reason why so many people’s names were missing on election day was that their names had been posted in a different ward than the one they expected it to be. If the voters’ roll had been made public then people would have gone to the right ward if they could. It is hard to see how the posting of names in wrong ward and then the failure to produce a voters roll in time were all accidents!
Mugabe has stubbornly refused to release the voters roll for the various court challenges of some of the elections results.
The voters’ roll is the smoking gun to Mugabe’s vote rigging.
One would have thought the AU would be the one pushing for free, fair and credible elections and thus good governance as the way to end Africa’s backwardness. Instead the continental body is the one pushing for a cover up of tyrants like Mugabe’s mismanagement, corruption and tyrannical rule.
I hope the West is going to stand firm against tyrants like Mugabe and give the ordinary people a chance to end this cycle of corruption and poverty. Only leaders elected by the people in free and fair elections will end the tyranny and corruption!
MUCHA, MUNZWA, KHAYA’BONINA, JOSEPH, Could you all kindly give me your contact address in order to discuss and the west issue, i will show you they are nothing and the easiest way that you can get ride of them, who is a beggar west or Africa??????????
Please my contact address is: umaari2011k@hotmail.com, phone no: +254 712165070 any of you should communicate with me is most welcomed.
Thanks
Umaari
My Take:
1. Arrest:
Noone is going to arrest RGM- the sitting president of the great Zimbo nation, and now SADC & AU Chairman. It’s called the rule of law. The organisers have now said that RGM was always an invited guest – so we say- hakula ndaba lokhu or hapana zviripo makumbo enyoka.
2. Man of War, Blood & Peace:
RGM is a man of war and blood like the biblical David.
i. War- when he and others fought for the liberation of Zim.
ii. Blood- while he was burying tens of thousand of comrades in the bush and in Moza, and,
iii. Peace- when he decisively put down the Gukurahundi rebellion in the eary 1980s, and crafted the Unity Accord to maintain peace and tranquility in our lovely nation.
A look at the history of armed rebellions the world over shows that such situations can only be resolved by short, sharp and decisive action: Sri Lanka, Northern Ireland, etc.
Solution: Let all patriotic Zimbos work together to develop our beautiful country.