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Mugabe laughs last
Jean-Jacques Cornish and Godwin Gandu, Mail & Guardian (SA)
July 07, 2006

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=276482&area=/insight/insight__africa/

Going into the African Union summit in Banjul, The Gambia, Zimbabwe’s beleaguered President Robert Mugabe already knew that he would once again escape censure by the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR) for his controversial slum clearance plan that displaced more than 700 000 people.

But this doesn’t explain why he was walking around like the cat that had got the cream, and why he was confident enough to doze lazily throughout the human-rights debate on the opening day of the gathering.

The ACHPR’s damning report on Operation Murambatsvina was yet again held back by the AU’s executive council of foreign ministers. It felt Mugabe needed more time to comment, even though the same report was tabled at the AU summit in Khartoum in January.

It was not until the closing hours of the summit that the source of his delight became clear, after out-going United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan announced that his long-planned visit to Zimbabwe was off and that former Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa had been appointed to mediate between Mugabe and Western countries.

"There is room for only one mediator in this matter and I will give time and space to former president Mkapa to do his job," said Annan.

Whether Annan ever really intended to make that visit before leaving office at the end of this year is arguable, particularly after Mugabe had indicated his invitation had gone cold. It is also by no means certain that Annan would have gone armed with an exit strategy for Mugabe, as was widely reported.

Annan’s withdrawal certainly surprised the United Kingdom’s Africa Minister Lord David Triesman: "If Annan feels he can’t take things any further, I think that is very sad," he commented.

"If Mkapa wants to convey anything to us he will be very welcome in the UK. He is widely admired for the job he did as president although he has said things in Mugabe’s defence. Nevertheless, we’ll listen to anything Mkapa has to say."

Sources privy to the details of a hurried meeting between Mugabe and Annan say the Zimbabwean president ran the show.

In attendance, Annan, Mugabe, UN Under Secretary Ibrahim Gambari, Zimbabwe Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, Central Intelligence Organisation Director General Happyton Bonyongwe and Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa. Out of sight, President Thabo Mbeki.

Mugabe apparently quizzed Annan on why he was allowing himself to be used by the West to put "Zimbabwe in the dock" and helping its critics "to have a tiny innocent Southern African country made an issue on the Security Council". Mugabe told Annan there were more pressing issues to deal with on the continent, such as the crisis in Darfur.

"Mugabe will always have his way -- it’s a strategy he plotted even before he left, that he would advise Annan that any attempt to mediate will amount to political interference," a source privy to the discussion told the Mail & Guardian.

"The more protracted the crisis becomes, the more difficult it will be for measures to restore the crisis," says Dr Reginald Matshava-Hove, a Zimbabwean human rights activist.

Political analysts say Mugabe seems to be an expert on the political diplomatic chessboard, fooling all the people all the time and getting away with it.

"Whoever is going to be a mediator in this diplomatic impasse should have undoubted credibility," says Simon Badza, lecturer in international relations at the University of Zimbabwe. "In the recent past we have seen Mkapa more on the side of the president [Mugabe] and his impartiality is likely to be doubted by the Western world," he said.

Cashing up
When African leaders departed from Banjul, they left behind three stretch Hummers, a fleet of Korean 4x4s and 200 Taiwanese motorcycles. Then there were the 53 luxury beachside villas, used only once.

Apart from the real estate, which was being offered for sale, it isn’t certain what will remain in the friendly hands of the hosts.

As the Gambians ponder the harsh realities of their future, the African Union itself has to consider its own cash-strapped existence.

For all the euphoria expressed by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and African Union chairperson Alpha Oumar Konare, there’s no escaping the fact that the continental body is going broke.

Members are being asked to meet a budget of $129,6-milion over the next year. This consists of $69,4-million from assessed payments -- that reflected the ability to pay in accordance with members’ gross national product -- and $60,2-million from voluntary payments.

South Africa is pushing to have these two items joined into a single assessed payment, but did not achieve this in Banjul.

Five countries -- Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Nigeria and South Africa -- pay 75% of the assessed payments.

By the commission’s own admission, the assessed payments don’t cover its expenses and this hinders its ability to do its work.

This leaves AU organs, such the Pan African Parliament, based in Midrand, totally hamstrung.

Unable to maintain its running expenses, the AU cannot embark on developmental programmes so eagerly suggested by members.

The reality is that no fewer than 11 AU countries are under sanction for being more than two years in arrears.

Thus the leaders of these bad payers -- Cape Verde, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania, Sao Tome and Principe, the Seychelles and Somalia -- are permitted to attend summit meetings but are not allowed to speak. Hardly an auspicious debut for Liberia’s Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected woman president.

Going into the summit nine countries were in arrears on this year’s budget. A total of $39-million has been paid, leaving a shortfall of $93,8-million. -- Jean-Jacques Cornish

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