Seeker Blog

Would it ever be possible to put him on trial for “crimes against humanity” or something like that?

Unlikely. As the protagonist in the movie Men in Tights said, “Unlike other Robin Hoods, I have a British accent.” Analogously, unlike Augusto Pinochet, Robert Mugabe is a Marxist. Crimes against humanity, no can do. He meant well.

– wrote Richard Fernandez in the comments to his post:

Africabeat links to news that China is withdrawing its support for Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. The Telegraph writes: “One of the Zimbabwe president’s oldest diplomatic friends, China yesterday told Lord Malloch Brown, the Foreign Office minister, that it was dropping all assistance except humanitarian aid. The move follows a decision by China, a permanent member of the United Nations security council, to work more closely with the international community in bringing pressure to bear on “rogue regimes”. It represents a major shift in its previous policy of refusing to attack the internal policies of long-standing allies.”

Africabeat writes, “at the very least, they can smell change in the air. Zimbabwe’s no longer bankable, no longer a country in which to make long-term investments in industries or in people. Politically, I get the sense that things could turn in any number of directions at any moment.” This is is probably a correct reading of the situation. China isn’t ditching Mugabe because they’ve suddenly acquired democratic principles. They’re ditching him because his ship is sinking. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

Also in the comments, the African hand “F” wrote:

While it is true it “couldn’t happen to a nicer guy,” we should not conclude that the scales have fallen off China’s eyes for any moral reason. More likely, they recognize there is nothing left there to plunder. I was stationed in Tanzania when the Chinese signed an agreement to build a railway from Zambia in the southwest to the harbor of Dar es Salaam. The loan was substantial ($600 million sticks in my head) and repayment was to be in Tanzanian goods — like ivory and other commodities that were good value in East Africa. Nyerere was then telling the world the white regimes in South Africa, Mozambique and Rhodesia (present-day Zimbabwe) would fall, but building a railway that would avoid transiting those countries. When majority rule came to Zimbabwe and Mozambique the Tan-Zam Railway was a white elephant but the debt remained. And it was only after work was well along that Nyerere found out the railway gauge matched that in only two other countries in the world: China and South Africa. The Chinese have always been very sharp in their dealings with the Third World; morality was never an issue when I was watching developments in Africa. I cannot believe morality has anything to do with this move. Someone in the PRC Foreign Ministry took a long look at Mugabe and realized it was time to throw him to the wolves. F