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Ripples in
Washington over Obasanjo’s caricature
•As Zimbabwe raises tension with
Nigeria
By Chinedu Offor
Correspondent
Washington, D.C
Zimbabwe appears bent
on continuing with its no love lost with Nigeria, a line in the sand President
Robert Mugabe drew last year when he accused Africa’s most populous
country of fronting for Britain’s quest to soil his reputation - as
well as see him plucked from a perch he has occupied for over two decades.
A pro-government
newspaper in Zimbabwe, The Chronicle, has just heightened the tension. It published an
unflattering cartoon of Obasanjo polishing the boots of President George Bush,
a caricature that is causing
ripples in diplomatic circles in Washington and beyond.
Washington has
protested to Harare, and so has Abuja.
The link with Bush is
not far fetched. The United States
is the greatest ally of the United Kingdom, and Bush and Prime Minister Tony
Blair go beyond the call of duty to emphasise their personal friendship.
On the other hand,
Zimbabwe, through Mugabe, is at loggerheads with its former colonial master,
Britain, blaming all of its woes on it.
Mugabe is an erudite
lawyer. He does not miss a single opportunity to fire eloquent pot shots at
Blair whom he accuses of scheming his ouster for standing up against
Britain’s desire to hang on to its colonial quarry in Zimbabwe.
The tetchy point is
the arable land mass acquired by “settler” white farmers which the
government insists should be reclaimed and redistributed to
“indigenous” blacks. The UK does not oppose the scheme in
principle, but is not entirely impressed by the way Mugabe is going on about
it.
This is where Nigeria
comes in.
Mugabe says the UK is
trying to achieve through Obasanjo what it cannot do on its own -
tarnishing his image so that his fellow African leaders will withdraw support
for him. African leaders are
divided over him; however, one of his supporters, and a very influential one at
that - who refuses to knock him in public - is South African
President Thabo Mbeki.
Zimbabwe also accuses
Nigeria of being a British conduit pipe for funds to Mugabe’s torn in the
flesh, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), to continue its opposition to
the 76 year-old President who has ruled the country for all of its 23 years of
independence.
Those allegations
broke last December when the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM),
hosted by Nigeria, decided to suspend Zimbabwe from the body.
Just as CHOGM was
about to take the decision, Mugabe pulled a fast one on it by withdrawing his
country altogether, scorning the Commonwealth as “just a club” from
which a member can choose to withdraw at any time.
He went ahead to
demonstrate his fury against Obasanjo by rejecting his new envoy to the East
African country. The Nigerian mission in Harare has since remained without a
high commissioner, or an “ambassador” as Mugabe would want such an
envoy re-designated.
A high commissioner
represents his country in another Commonwealth country, the nomenclature
changes to that of an ambassador in a non-Commonwealth nation.
Ironically, Nigeria
backed Southern Rhodesia - as Zimbabwe was then called - to the hilt when it fought Britain for
the independence it got in 1980. Just as Nigeria did when South Africa creaked
in the turmoil of apartheid - particularly during the 1970’s to the
early 80’s, a period regarded by historians as Nigeria’s golden era
of diplomatic influence.
As a result,
Abuja’s relations with Harare had been pretty excellent. Until Mugabe
snapped last year.
His perceived latest
salvo, the cartoon, has become the object of heated diplomatic exchanges between Washington, Harare and Abuja.
Zimbabwe’s main
opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), is also weighing in
on the matter, criticising Mugabe of encouraging "constant vitriolic
attack on Nigeria".
Abuja’s
suspicion was confirmed by MDC spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi when he
said this fresh one has the tacit
backing of Mugabe.
“The vitriolic attack on Nigeria
is, in our view, an attempt to head-off Nigeria's likely insistence as chair of
the AU, that the report recently produced by the committee that investigated
and condemned Zimbabwe's appalling human rights record be debated openly", he stated.
In his view, picking
on Obasanjo is an attempt to
immobilise Zimbabwe and render it unable to address the perception that it
continues to carry out human rights
violations.
Sources at the U.S.
State Department and the Zimbabwean embassy said American
officials have protested to Harare
on what diplomatic sources said is an insult on the Nigerian leader.
"We decided to
protest because we do not want to create the impression that President Obasanjo takes orders from
our President. He is an elected
leader of one of Africa's most influential countries and portraying him in such a bad light by the cartoon is
unacceptable", a state department official said.
Abuja has also sent a
strongly worded letter to Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Stan Mudenga.
In it, according to
sources, Nigeria warned Zimbabwe to "seize and desist" from repeated attacks on Obasanjo.
The letter did not
contain threats of sanctions but sources said Nigeria may consider withdrawing
oil and gas supplies to an impoverished Zimbabwe going through all manner of
socio-economic crises.
One of its embassy
official in Washington said the mission has received and forwarded the protest
letters to Harare.
He, however, frowned
at what they said is an attempt to get the government to suppress the media.
"They accuse the government of clamping down on the press and now expect
us to suppress a cartoon critical of the Nigerian leader, that is double standards".
Nigerian embassy officials in Washington declined comment,
but a source said they are
awaiting instructions from Abuja.
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