Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-07-07-Speech-4-190"
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"en.20050707.28.4-190"2
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".
Mr President, allow me first of all to express, specifically to the British Members of this House, my deepest sympathy with the victims of the horrific events in London.
I will now turn to Zimbabwe. More than ever, Mugabe seems to be turning into Africa’s Pol Pot. These may be big words, but I read them several times when I leafed through Zimbabwean documents yesterday and the tragedy unfolded there before my very eyes. With his indefensible ‘Operation Drive Out Rubbish’, Mugabe is destroying thousands of shelters in the poor suburbs. All and sundry are being driven into the wintry cold, desperate and not knowing where to go. Many of those driven away voted for the opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change, during the elections in March.
What are the reactions on the international stage? Neighbouring South Africa claims to be applying tacit diplomacy, but it is so tacit that it is not even being heard in Zimbabwe. The members of the African Union, who met in the Libyan city of Sirte, did not feel it incumbent upon themselves to condemn Mugabe’s regime either. Their excuse is that they do not want to interfere in domestic affairs. The Commission, represented by its President, Mr Barroso, takes the view that we do not need to teach Africa any lessons. The Council seems to appreciate the seriousness of the situation but does little to bring about any real improvement. Together with the United Kingdom and backed by Greece and Denmark, the United States broached the subject of the crisis in the UN Security Council. If the United Nations really wants to do the great things to which it aspires, this is a situation in which it should do them, but sending Anna Tibaijuka, Kofi Annan’s special envoy, to that country will not be enough.
The world has been watching from the sidelines for far too long, while the dictator Mugabe has gone about his business unpunished, becoming more insolent in the process. At the G8 Summit at Gleneagles in Scotland, poverty was at the top of the agenda. We clearly expect more than the token appeal on the part of the G8 ministers on 23 June to Harare to adhere to the rule of law and respect human rights; an excellent starting point for these world leaders would be this House’s resolution, which is explicit and uncompromising."@en1
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