Zimbabwe, in Gordon Brown’s statement to British Parliament on the G8 Summit

Gordon Brown has briefed British MPs on the G8 Summit held in Japan earlier this week. We’ve extracted the section about Zimbabwe and included it in this post.

It seems fairly clear from the comments he makes that the British government has stepped back from their usual fears of indignant shrieks and pointing fingers accusing them of being a ‘coloniser’. This is more unequivocal than many previous statements which have tended to try and tone rhetoric down and defer to Mbeki as ‘point-man’.

I imagine the fact that three African observer missions have now come out and declared the recent elections neither free nor fair and therefore illegitimate, means the burden of being the one who points out the obvious and spotlights fraud is now shared between the ‘West’ and ‘Africa’ (at last) so this possibly makes the British feel they can throw caution to the wind.

Personally, however, I have never quite understood how British quietness on the issue of Zimbabwe has protected their country from being accused of being a coloniser seeking to re-colonise.

Did quieter language and a more back-seat role ever do anything to soften Mugabe’s anti-British rhetoric?

Given that Zanu PF has only had one thing to offer in all of its fraudulent elections in recent years- namely, campaigning on an anti-British agenda – it makes me wonder if Britain has finally realised that they are damned if they do speak out, and also damned if they don’t.

With your permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement on the G8 Summit, which took place under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Fukuda, between 7 and 9 July in Tokyo, Japan —- a summit that was unique not just for the range of issues discussed in three interlocking summits – the African outreach, the G8 plus five and the Major Economies summits – but also for the large number of countries, 14, whose Presidents or Prime Ministers took part.

Let me first draw the House’s attention to the unprecedented G8 statement on Zimbabwe.

Mr Speaker, in the face of the deepening tragedy in Zimbabwe – the intimidation, the violation of human rights and the detention of political prisoners – the G8 made clear that we do not accept the legitimacy of the Mugabe government and that the UN Secretary General should now appoint a special envoy both to report on human rights and to support regional mediation efforts to bring about change.

The G8 also called for the immediate resumption of humanitarian operations – essential to preventing further suffering and loss of life. And we resolved that we would take further steps to take financial and other measures against those individuals responsible for the violence.

As the House will know we have followed this up with a UN Security Council Resolution now being discussed in New York We propose an international arms embargo on Zimbabwe including a ban on all supplies of any arms, weapons, ammunition and military equipment; and we list 14 named members of the Mugabe inner cabal against whom travel and financial sanctions should be imposed by the whole international community.

We have now set in train work to identify in Africa, Asia, America and Europe – through a forensic assessment – both physical assets and bank accounts of these 14 people. The UN resolution also establishes a committee to monitor these sanctions.

With worldwide sanctions and a worldwide arms embargo, our aim is that there be no hiding place and no safe haven for the criminal cabal that surrounds Mugabe. And now that the G8 has taken its decision, we propose that the United Nations puts the full weight of the international community against the actions of an illegitimate government.

The rest of Gordon Brown’s statement on the G8 Summit can be read here.

This entry was posted by Hope on Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 1:32 pm. You can follow any comments on this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.