PREVIEW
As US regime change tactics spark debate, British plans in Zimbabwe come under scrutiny
At the height of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s ‘War on Terror’ in 2004, British officials mulled whether a military operation could depose the ‘depressingly fit’ Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, according to documents released by Whitehall’s National Archives over the Christmas period.
The Foreign Office, then led by Blair loyalist Jack Straw, quickly rejected the coup option. But the idea was included in the memo, written in 2004 by Straw’s private office as the public backlash against the United States/Britain-led war which toppled Saddam Hussein was reaching its peak. That shows the depth of the Blair government’s frustration with Mugabe (AC Vol 49 No 14, Deaths and deals).
‘If we really want to change the situation on the ground in Zimbabwe, we have to do to Mugabe what we have just done to Saddam,’ wrote Straw’s adviser Kara Owen in a section headlined ‘Removing Mugabe’.
In 2000, the Labour government under Blair lambasted Mugabe for ripping up property rights under its farm seizures and land redistribution. But other options including tightening sanctions, a freeze on Zimbabwean assets held in the UK or breaking off diplomatic relations were all rejected by the Foreign Office.
Instead, Blair continued to criticise the Mugabe regime, imposing travel bans and asset freezes on leading Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front members, refusing to meet Mugabe and supporting Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai is widely believed to have won the 2008 presidential election with an absolute majority but withdrew in the second-round runoff amid government violence that left hundreds dead. He became Prime Minister in February 2009 as part of what was marketed as a power-sharing coalition with Mugabe and ZANU-PF (AC Vol 50 No 3, Power-sharing for bankrupt beginners).
The coup which eventually ousted Mugabe in November 2017, led by General Constantino Chiwenga, installed Emmerson Mnangagwa, who Mugabe had fired as vice-president just weeks earlier. Since the coup, human rights and economic conditions are widely seen to have deteriorated further under Mnangagwa’s rule.
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