Make poverty history – or make dictators history?

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A banner erected on a road to Gleneagles

Leaders of the world's richest 8 countries have gathered at Gleneagles in Scotland to discuss two matters of global significance - how to protect planet earth from irreversible environmental damage, and how to rescue the African continent from debilitating and dehumanizing poverty. While acknowledging that the two issues are inter-related, and in no way wishing to detract from the importance of the first, our main concern here is with the second issue.

The poverty issue has been highlighted in recent weeks by an international campaign under the banner "Make Poverty History", which culminated in the Live 8 concert and mass marches of last weekend. In Scotland alone a crowd of some 225,000 people marched behind banners calling for debt relief, more aid and improved trading terms for Africa. The Live 8 concert brought together an impressive international ensemble of singers and bands, and it is estimated that 5 billion people around the world watched the spectacle on television. Enough to make the point to the world leaders gathered at their plush resort in Scotland that there is enormous interest in the topics under discussion, and great expectations that significant moves will be made to rescue Africa from the debt trap.

A great deal of international lobbying has already been done in preparation for the summit on the issue of debt relief, and a clear consensus seems to be emerging among the most technologically advanced and wealthy nations that Africa deserves a break. At a popular level in the West there is massive support for debt cancellation, and some governments have already pledged to write off all, or a significant part of, historic debts and to increase the level of aid to the continent. There has been noticeably less offered in the way of what in the longer term is of greater importance to the economies of Africa, namely improved trading terms. Nonetheless there remains a considerable amount of goodwill and a clear determination to help lift Africa out of poverty. The discussion is already down to specifics in many cases and the economies of the most indebted countries have been closely examined to determine where and how debt relief should be applied.

The one country in Africa which has been conspicuously omitted from the discussion is of course Zimbabwe. The reasons for this are obvious. The Zimbabwean economy is in terminal decline. All the economic indices are negative. Plummeting industrial and agricultural output, soaring inflation, unemployment and national debt - all combine to give Zimbabwe the unenviable reputation of having the fastest shrinking economy in the world. Surely a prime candidate for international aid - except, as we all know, this is a man-made crisis.

The massive stress to which the Zimbabwean economy has been subjected is the result of bad governance, which in turn is the result of the democracy deficit and lack of accountability of the government to its people. Were the government accountable to the people it would not get away, at such a time of famine and unprecedented hardship, with the profligate expenditure of (conservatively) US$ 400 million on military hardware. Nor would it dare undertake, as it has, an insane attack upon the informal sector that supports over 3 million families and makes a substantial contribution to the national economy. These crazy decisions of the executive - which in Zimbabwe's case means one man, Robert Mugabe - were only possible within a political environment in which that one man knew he would not have to answer for them, at least not immediately. If there was ever any doubt about the direct causal link between the lack of democracy and bad governance, and between bad governance and national poverty, a case study of Zimbabwe under Mugabe's misrule should settle that doubt once for all.

Which means that the G8 and other industrialised, first world countries are absolutely right in not even considering Zimbabwe for debt relief at this stage. Since the causes of Zimbabwe's economic decline are entirely political it follows that a solution to the political crisis must be sought before any economic assistance is offered. Specifically because the prime cause of the misery of Zimbabwe's millions is the lack of democracy in the country, the international community should seek first to remedy this deficit. Here we applaud the comments made by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, on the eve of the summit, to the effect that aid to Africa is useless if African leaders are corrupt. "We should not be afraid to stop aid to dictators, like Zimbabwe's Mugabe", he added.

It is extremely unfortunate for those suffering under the dictator that the debt relief and increased aid to be offered to other African countries as a result of the G8 meeting should not be made available to Zimbabwe at this stage, but the victims of Mugabe's misrule would surely be the first to say that this is the right decision. Any debt relief offered to Zimbabwe under its present rulers would simply entrench them in power. A few more ground attack aircraft from China or armoured personnel carriers to send into the high-density suburbs perhaps, or another fleet of Mercedes to hand around to the dictator's cronies …

Let Zimbabweans know they are being excluded from this round of debt relief and donor aid precisely because they are still under the yoke of this loathsome dictator. And let them know also that when they have found the courage to rise up and assert their stolen rights of freedom and democracy, they will certainly be in line to receive very substantial aid and support from the West. The United States for one has already signalled as much. This is not to call Zimbabweans to arms but a simple recognition of the unfortunate but inescapable reality that until the country is set fair on a course to democracy even the most sympathetic nations will remain severely constrained in what they can do to alleviate the suffering.

On the other hand if Zimbabwe is not to receive any immediate economic aid does this mean the subject should be removed from the G8 agenda? On the contrary we ask what other help its suffering citizens are entitled to expect from this summit? We suggest five urgent priorities:

1. First and foremost emergency relief for the victims of Mugabe's recent (and ongoing) "Operation Murambatsvina". News of this pogrom against the poor is already circulating widely and has drawn international condemnation. Indeed at this moment the UN Secretary-General's personal envoy, Anna Tibaijuka, is continuing her investigation into this massive humanitarian disaster that has rendered more than a million Zimbabweans homeless and destroyed the livelihoods of an even greater number. Sokwanele has posted a number of reports and photographs of this brutal assault upon the poor and we, and others, have highlighted the wretched plight of the victims.
   They are in urgent need of emergency relief aid in the form of food, blankets, shelter, fresh water, toilet facilities and medical care, which clearly the bankrupt Mugabe regime has neither the means nor the will to supply. Accordingly it would be a wonderful gesture if the G8 and other world leaders would acknowledge the crisis and begin to mobilize resources for relief. We must emphasise that what we have in mind here is not aid and debt cancellation, but simply emergency relief supplies to assist, in the short term, the huge number of victims.
   Furthermore as the Mugabe regime is the perpetrator of these atrocities it is hardly to be trusted to administer relief supplies to the victims, so the relief effort would have to be supervised by an international body of standing such as the United Nations. Let the UN exercise its authority here to insist on direct access to those in desperate need and the right to supervise the whole operation.

   Second, we see the need for a far greater degree of honesty from the international community in acknowledging the root causes of the present suffering. Especially does this apply to African leaders who, to date, have gone to great pains to avoid condemning Mugabe and his totalitarian regime. In fact their refusal to confront the core issue here calls into question their seriousness in committing to the values of freedom, democracy and good governance - and hence their own eligibility to participate in any new anti-poverty partnership with the West.

2. Bob Geldof who organised the Live 8 aid concert for Africa, put it this way:
   "What about the absolute, absolute thuggery, brutality and mayhem of that mad creep Mugabe? Why does Africa refuse to acknowledge what is happening in that country? This man is mad. He's destroying his country; he's killing his people."
   Admittedly we wouldn't expect African leaders to use quite such undiplomatic language (!) but this is the reality after all, and the sooner Thabo Mbeki and other regional leaders admit it publicly the better. Acknowledging the problem is surely the first step towards finding a solution.
3. The next priority must be to intensify international efforts to isolate the Mugabe regime diplomatically. The targeted sanctions applied against the ZANU-PF leadership by the European Union, the USA, Switzerland and a handful of Commonwealth countries, are hurting and should be intensified and extended to cover all those who are collaborating with the Mugabe regime in any significant way, and so prolonging the suffering of the Zimbabwean people.
4. Closely related to the above, we note and endorse the call of human rights activist and writer Judith Todd for total sanctions to be applied. On June 30 Ms Todd (herself a victim of an earlier form of tyranny in this country under Ian Smith) called for "very serious action against the genocidal regime". She referred to the possibility of stopping all arms sales, all sales of spare parts, bank loans and "everything that can extend the life of the regime." As the evil monster of apartheid was undermined by the application of an increasing range of international sanctions, so might the end of the Mugabe regime be hastened. Every day by which that objective is brought forward means one less day of acute suffering for millions of Zimbabweans.
5. Finally the international community must give urgent consideration to supporting and assisting in every way possible those progressive forces within Zimbabwe which are working for peaceful, non-violent change. One of the tragic consequences of prolonged misrule and the melt-down of the economy is that millions of Zimbabweans have taken refuge beyond the borders of the country of their birth. Refugees and asylum seekers have their own desperate needs which must still be addressed urgently, but we are referring here to the needs of those activists who have demonstrated exemplary courage in leading the struggle for freedom and democracy from within Zimbabwe. Sadly they are often lacking the resources and support which they require and deserve, and we would call the attention of all democratic, freedom-loving peoples to this deficit.

The international campaign to end poverty in Africa has been dubbed "Make Poverty History". We applaud this campaign and salute all who have worked so hard to turn such a slogan into reality. And from our unique Zimbabwean perspective we would raise another banner to place alongside the first, reading "Make Dictators History".

Any help the world can offer in making our dictator history would indeed be most welcome !