My stand against Mugabe
From Dr Denis Mac,Sharte Sir: I was surprised to read Peter Oborne's denunciation of the government's handling of Zimbabwe (Labour's betrayal of Zimbabwe', 30 August). In the years between the Lancaster House agreement and 1997 I cannot think of any criticism or intervention undertaken by the Conservatives over Zimbabwe, despite the fact that Mugabe's dictatorial rule was becoming more and more obvious.
In fact, when Mugabe launched his genocidal attacks on his opponents in Matabeleland, the then Conservative government defended him with a Tory minister telling Parliament, 'The Zimbabwean government face a serious security threat from dissidents in Matabeleland and obviously must try to take effective action to deal with it' (Hansard, 23 May 1984).
This government has imposed a series of sanctions and won the support of the Commonwealth, the EU and the USA for the view that Mugabe is a threat to African development and has created a situation of famine for his own people. No amount of bluster at Johannesburg can hide from the world the disaster of Mugabe, and it is interesting that he unleashes his venom against a Labour prime minister, Tony Blair, because Britain now has a government willing to tell the truth about his regime.
Speaking for the Foreign Office in the Commons, I have called for 'regime change' in Zimbabwe, pointing out that 'elections are stolen, journalists are arrested and there is widespread corruption among the governing elite'. The government's tough stand might be made stronger with some bipartisan support; but, in his keynote address to the Royal Institute of International Affairs on Conservative foreign policy earlier this year, the party leader lain Duncan Smith did not even refer to Africa.
Denis MacShane
FCO Minister, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, London SW1
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