Howzit

This article came in from on email from Eddie Cross, whilst I have also added in another article that caught my eye yesterday.

First things first, entitled “Genocide in Zimbabwe?”:

A trip to the rural areas in Mashonaland East last week was yet another shocking reality check on the human suffering caused by One Man and His Party. I saw so many thin people with dull eyes and dull skins, children not in school because there is no money for fees… and so their suffering continues.

I would like to draw attention to two articles in the Genocide Convention - Zimbabwe is a signatory to this Convention!  My comments are in brackets.

There are two salient articles in the Convention:  

Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:  

  • Killing members of the group; (over 300 MDC members murdered since 1999)
  • causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (it is estimated that approx. 70% of Zimbabweans are acutely stressed)
  • Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (Gukuruhundi Genocide Matabeleland 1982 over 25,000 people brutally tortured and murdered; Operation Murambatsvina where over 700,000 peoples homes were raised to the ground; the mass evictions of farmers and their employees)
  • Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
  • Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. (forcing young people - some as young as 15 - into Militia camps for training in violence and torture).

Article III: The following acts shall be punishable:  

  • Genocide;
  • Conspiracy to commit genocide; (ZANU PF Minister Didymus Mutasa’s infamous quote that “we would be better off without those 6 million people who don’t support the party”.
  • Direct and public incitement to commit genocide; (President Mugabe: “go out and bash them” the opposition, students, unions)
  • Attempt to commit genocide;
  • Complicity in genocide.

The following are acts of genocide when committed as part of a policy to destroy a group’s existence:  

  • Killing members of the group includes direct killing and actions causing death.
  • Causing serious bodily or mental harm includes inflicting trauma on members of the group through widespread torture, rape, sexual violence, forced or coerced use of drugs, and mutilation.
  • Deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy a group includes the deliberate deprivation of resources needed for the group’s physical survival, such as clean water, food, clothing, shelter or medical services.
  • Deprivation of the means to sustain life can be imposed through confiscation of harvests, blockade of foodstuffs, detention in camps, forcible relocation or expulsion into deserts. 
  • Prevention of births includes involuntary sterilization, forced abortion, prohibition of marriage, and long-term separation of men and women intended to prevent procreation.
  • Forcible transfer of children may be imposed by direct force or by through fear of violence, duress, detention, psychological oppression or other methods of coercion. The Convention on the Rights of the Child defines children as persons under the age of 14 years.

It is must be noted that only the “prevention of births…” second last bullet point has not applied in Zimbabwe. ALL THE OTHERS HAVE, AND ARE STILL TAKING PLACE.

So why may I ask, is SADC, especially South Africa, as well as the rest of the supposedly civilised world, standing back while this is taking place?  Where is the black brother/sisterhood? Does it only apply President to President? Does it matter not that a conservatively estimated 3500 Zimbabweans are dying every week, HIV and starvation.

I sincerely hope that the current UN Secretary General will not have to make the same apology, to Zimbabweans, as his predecessor did over the Ruwanda Genocide. Perhaps the apology could be made now, as the Genocide in Zimbabwe is an ongoing exercise.

-o00o-

Whilst a second article compared recent African HISTORY within differing countries:

Dear Eddie,

Excuse my outburst but the situation with the leadership in Africa is becoming intolerable;

1. If Comrade Mengistu Haile Mariam had been willing to step aside in 1989, ETHIOPIA would have been saved. But he stayed on, causing the destruction of the country and the deaths of more than 1 million Ethiopians from starvation and famine. Eventually, he fled to Zimbabwe.

2. If General Siad Barre had been willing to step aside in 1991, SOMALIA would have been saved. But he stayed on, causing the destruction of thecountry and the deaths of more than 2 million Somalis from war, starvation and famine. Eventually, he fled to Nigeria where he died in exile.

3. If General Juvenal Habryimana had been willing to step aside in 1993, RWANDA would have been saved. But he stayed on, causing the destruction of the country and the deaths of more than 1 million Rwandese from the genocide.

4.. If General Pierre Buyoya been willing to step aside in 1993, BURUNDI would have been saved. But he stayed on, causing the destruction of the country and the deaths of hundreds of thousands Burundians.

5.If General Mobutu Sese Seko had been willing to step aside in 1996, ZAIRE would have been saved. But he stayed on, causing the destruction of the country and the deaths of more than 4 million Congolese from conflict and war-related diseases. Eventually, he fled to Morocco where he died in exile.

6. If General Samuel Doe had been willing to step aside in 1995, LIBERIA would have been saved. But he stayed on, causing the destruction of the country and the deaths of more than 1 million Liberians from war, starvation and famine. Eventually, his ears were cut off for being hard at hearing and he bled to death.

7. If General Joseph Momoh had been willing to step aside in 1994, SIERRA LEONE would have been saved. But he stayed on, causing the destruction of the country and the deaths of at least 1 million Sierra Leonians from starvation and famine. Eventually, he fled to Gambia.

8. If Col. Omar el Bashir had been willing to step aside in 1999, SUDAN would have been saved. But he stayed on, causing the destruction of the country and the deaths of more than 3 million Sudanese from war, starvation and famine. That coconut is still in power.

Need more examples?

9. If Mugabe had been willing to step aside in 1998, ZIMBABWE . . .

10. If Bongo of Gabon had been…

11. If Bozize of Central African Republic

12. If dos Santos of Angola

13. If Idriss Deby of Chad

14. If Conte of Guinea

15. If Comparaore of Burkina Faso

Let’s add up the LOSS of lives caused by the obstinacy of just the first 6 leaders. It is 13 million and compare that to the 10 million people Africa lost through the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. In other words, these 6 leaders alone have caused the deaths of MORE Africans than were taken out as slaves.

Racists would gloat over these numbers.

The modern leadership is a despicable disgrace to black Africa and Mugabe is one of them because they REINFORCE racist notions about Africa. I am angry because Africa’s traditional rulers offered better leadership than these so-called “modern” leaders.

The traditional rulers built states, kingdoms and empires, some of which lasted for centuries and still exist. The Ghana Empire, for example, lasted for 800 years.

We know who the true and real leaders of black Africa are and they ain’t the modern leaders. The latter are a disgrace to black people.

George Ayittey,
Washington, DC