International humanitarian law imposes on all states party to its treaties, the duties and all legal obligations such states have freely undertaken as binding on them.
The ultimate responsibility of Governments is to cater for the economic, social well-being of its citizens .For some years now, but especially in the last two years, the President of Zimbabwe, Mr. Robert Mugabe, has focused his efforts on self-preservation and self-perpetuation in office, thereby neglecting the cardinal responsibility of ministering to the sovereign people of Zimbabwe.
In spite of his advanced age and long stay in office as the President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe continues to pursue, with single-mindedness, his ambition to remain in office. In order to achieve this end, he has dealt ruthlessly with the Zimbabwean opposition and has trenchantly responded to any criticisms about his methods of political governance.
There are many political mal-contents in Zimbabwe, who have no means of expressing their dissenting views because they are afraid of suppression. As a result of the success of his political stratagems, which have enabled him to stay in office thus far, there has been utter neglect of the welfare of the people of Zimbabwe. The nation has been engaged in a maelstrom of political colloquy and social turmoil.
The spread of preventable diseases have added inexorably, to the sum of human misery in Zimbabwe. As a result of the international humanitarian dimension of this misanthropic condition in Zimbabwe, world citizens must rise up to stop the CITIZENCIDE in Zimbabwe caused by President Robert Mugabe. The events in Zimbabwe, especially with regards to the cholera epidemic, can no longer fall under “matters within the domestic jurisdiction of Zimbabwe” as generally subsumed under Article 2 (4) of the United Nations Charter.
The situation is a critical emergency that yields to no political rhetoric. Homicide, regicide, genocide and citizencide are legal expressions, which depict the horror of killings of various categories of human beings, in reckless and condemnable manner. Citizencide, if I may coin the terminology, envelops a complex but coherent, corpus of criminality by a Head of State or President or King, which results in the deaths of his citizens or subjects. King Herod and Emperor Jean Bokassa committed these crimes.
There should be no indifference to the deplorable situation in Zimbabwe. There should be universal action to save the people of Zimbabwe. The charge of imperialism no longer convinces anyone, which is why the people of Zimbabwe have gone behind the barricades in protests.
It can be recalled that when General Sani Abacha embarked on his murderous governance in Nigeria, President Robert Mugabe was vociferous and we all applauded his stand. This why Odinga’s diatribe sounds hollow, given his antecedents.
It is regrettable that the same Mugabe is now insensitive to the sufferings of the people of Zimbabwe, for whom he fought gallantly during British colonial rule. Those dictators, who have ruled the world, are constant reminders of the counterfeit nature of Man, but history is ever so kind to document their ignoble ends and it stresses to the aspirant, the powerlessness of power.
The problem with the intervention of Western powers in the affairs of Afro-Asian states is their paternalistic diplomacy and attempts at political guidance. Very often, they support suspicious characters, whose sudden rise to leadership and Western acceptance raise eyebrows in our system.
Also, the uncouth, undiplomatic tone some Western diplomats employ when dealing with African states and African leaders is often disrespectful and provocative.
This is precisely why Western states fail to receive the co-operation they often seek from African states when they have an axe to grind with some African leaders.
Watching Miss Condoleezza Rice insult Papa Robert Mugabe, whose second daughter she could have been, infuriates the soul, no matter what is in discussion. When unpleasant events happen in any state in the world, the tone of condemnation seems to differ according to the state of origin of the leader. What one finds is a disconnect between loud Episcopal condemnation of Mugabe and silence over Iraq, the knighthood of Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake, who ventured far afield, the ante-bellum American slavery, the burden of European colonial history, “ territorial annexations and outright colonization, base objectives in foreign lands, sea-faring adventurism”( O.T.Esiemokhai, 2008), the Episcopal proclamation of “the Papal Bull, which granted the King of Portugal the indisputable rights to conquer and trade with all the new territories eastward to India”. We remember the punitive missions of Dr Mungo Park to West Africa and his outrageous claim to have “discovered” the River Niger, the expeditions of David Livingstone in Central Africa, Mr. Henry Morton Stanley’s hand-over of the Congo to King 11 of Belgium and the mission of Royal Navy Lieutenant, Hugh Clapper ton.
The French sent their Italian nobleman, Pierre Braza, Emile Gentil, Amedee Francois-Lamy, his team-mate Foureau and Marchand, who staked out what later became the French colonies. The Italians sent out Vittorio, who explored the regions of Eritrea and Somalia. That colonization sowed the seed of the conflicts in those parts of Africa till date. The Germans deployed the resourceful Rohifs and Nachtigal on punitive, colonial missions to Africa.
The British ideology of colonialism was “Rule Britannia, Britannia rule the waves, ever, ever, ever, ever shall we reign.” Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe was severely punished and is still being punished, this time, by her own eminent son, who fought against the British during colonial rule. History is repeating itself in Zimbabwe.” Things that are equal to the same thing are equal to one another” Euclid.
For further readings on these historical events in Africa, please read the forth-coming book entitled, “African Renaissance: Imperatives for Business and Growth” by Ossie A. Esiemokhai.
The British have continued to nurse the ambition to re-colonize Zimbabwe, or install a politician of their choice, pundits say. This, in turn, provided some credibility to President Mugabe’s anti-colonial, anti-imperialist stance, until recent events proved the man’s inherent love for political office.
I say again that all dictators, who have ruled the world are constant reminders of the counterfeit nature of Man, but history is always so kind to document their ignoble ends and it stresses to the aspirant, the powerlessness of power.
Any state or person can only “cast the first stone”, if history declares them innocent. Zimbabwe must be free from all dictators and manipulators. So help them GOD!!!
