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Standing Up To Mugabe
We've known for a while that our favourite clergyman John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, is a man of principle. We didn't realise he was such a showman, too!
During an interview on the BBC's Andrew Marr show, the Archbishop tore off his dog collar and cut it into pieces, claiming he wouldn't wear it again until Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is "gone."
Here's the clip:
And here's the full interview, which puts the Archbishop's performance in context:
The Uganda-born Archbishop said the Prime Minister Gordon Brown was right to skip the EU-Africa summit in Portugal this weekend, in protest against both Mugabe and the support for the Zimbabwean leader from "hero worshipping" African leaders. Dr Sentamu said that when Tony Blair protested against Mugabe at a previous summit, African leaders booed him.
Despite some much-needed support from the good Archbishop, the EU-Africa experience can't have been good for Gordon Brown. Given the choice between Brown - PM of one of the EU's biggest contributors - and Mugabe - who has halved life expectancy in his country - most of Britain's fellow EU members chose the Zimbabwean dictator, ostensibly because hosts Portugal believed other African leaders would boycott the conference if Mugabe was banned. (Heads of governments of several central European nations stayed away too).
Portugal was determined to make the EU-Africa summit work. After all, it is one of the centrepieces of that nation's six month presidency of the EU (the other is the signing of the EU Constitutional Treaty this week). Moreover, EU nations are increasingly aware that China is on course to catch up with Europe on trade with Africa. China does not require that African countries submit to western ideals of human rights before signing trade deals: Indeed, Beijing has made numerous friendly deals with governments, like that in Sudan, where government backed militias are merrily slaughtering hundreds of thousands of civilians.
Some in Europe might have said, "Well, if you bunch of crooks won't come because we don't invite that monster Mugabe, then don't: It's your loss." Unfortunately, in 2007, less principled trading partners are available.
Still, it grates to see only a few EU nations criticise the man responsible for Zimbabwe's tragedy. Germany's Angela Merkel attacked him for "harming the image of the new Africa" (whatever the "New Africa" is). Leaders of the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden also highlighted Mugabe's human rights crimes, causing the Zimbabwean leader to attack the northern European nations as Brown's "Gang of Four." EU foreign policy representative Javier Solanas later said that the four spoke for all EU nations in their criticism of Mugabe's regime. The Times notes that only Senegal's leader leapt to Mugabe's defence.
Britain's line is that the elderly Mugabe will be gone soon, and what follows is unpredictable but sure to be better than the last ten years of Mugabe's Presidency. Perhaps both the EU and Mugabe's fellow Africans feel the same way, unwilling to criticise the leader outright but patiently awaiting the inevitable: A criminal like Mugabe can scorn his people, the Europeans and his fellow Africans, but even he can't escape time.
