afrol News, 1 July - The former UN Undersecretary Jan Egeland has asked the British government to "finally shut up" on Zimbabwe, being the least credible country to criticise the Mugabe regime given its bloody colonial past. Any British utterance on Zimbabwe is making it impossible for African leaders to condemn President Robert Mugabe.
Mr Egeland was the outspoken UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs from 2003 to 2006, a trusted aide of Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He was famed for his clear statements on the crisis in Darfur, for shaming the US government over its limited humanitarian aid, but also for daring to talk straight to Zimbabwean President Mugabe.
Now leading the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), Mr Egeland again is seeking the limelight. In a passionate appeal on Norway's public broadcaster 'NRK' yesterday evening, the ex-UN leader called upon Western countries, and in particular the UK, to stop interfering with African attempts to address the Zimbabwean crisis.
According to Mr Egeland, President Mugabe, who is Africa's oldest ruler, has a large historic credibility across the continent for having fought the brutal British colonial regime in thus Rhodesia. The Zimbabwean leader fought alongside other current African leaders thus making personal friendships, including with current Mozambican President Armando Guebuza and several South African ANC leaders.
While Mr Egeland holds that Mr Mugabe still is seen as a hero from the freedom struggle, he also emphasises that among African colleagues, his legacy as a statesman is strongly hurt by the current crisis. Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa have been surprisingly outspoken when condemning Mr Mugabe. Mr Egeland believed African leaders could have gained momentum after this criticism and leave President Mugabe out in the dark.
But that, he holds, is made impossible by continued UK pressure, giving Mr Mugabe renewed credibility. "It were the Englishmen that created the disgusting Rhodesia, which [Mr Mugabe] fought against," Mr Egeland said. With London going on bashing ex-freedom fighter Mugabe, and the rest of Europe following the UK, it becomes impossible for South African ruling ANC party to go on distance to the Zimbabwean leader, the ex-UN chief warns.
"Now, Great Britain needs to shut up," Mr Egeland said. "Then, it is rather Norway and Sweden that should take a tougher stance," he added, explaining that these two Nordic countries "were the only ones [in the Western world] that actively supported the [Southern African] freedom fight" with both funds and diplomatic efforts. Mr Egeland praised Norwegian PM Jens Stoltenberg for a recent attack on Mr Mugabe at a SADC-Nordic countries summit; an attack that hurt the Zimbabwean government due to the historic friendship lines with Scandinavia.
The former chief of the UN's humanitarian operations also recalled his meetings with President Mugabe. Asked whether the 84-year-old is still of sound mind, Mr Egeland said that sanity was not Mr Mugabe's problem, but the fact that "a military dictatorship" had been established and that the leader was totally uninformed about what really went on in his country.
Mr Egeland described his meeting with President Mugabe as a surrealistic experience. The UN leader was trying to get a humanitarian aid operation up and running in the country, which again was experiencing a food crisis denied by Mr Mugabe. The Zimbabwean leader seemed to believe his own arguments. "He was surrounded by a group that nodded every time he criticised me and the UN," Mr Egeland said, adding that the group did not want to hear his criticism of Zimbabwe. Mr Egeland said he believed President Mugabe saw all the information he received filtered by this group.
The former humanitarian aid coordinator still remains engaged in the food crises in Africa. He emphasised that "an estimated 6 million people" in Zimbabwe will need urgent food aid during the next few months, and appealed for aid to flow into the troubled country.
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