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EU Has No Right to Demand SADC's Isolation of Zimbabwe, Says Sata

The Post (Lusaka)
NEWS
October 10, 2002
Posted to the web October 10, 2002

By Sheikh Chifuwe

The European Union and the United States have no moral right to demand Southern
African Development Community's (SADC) isolation of Zimbabwe, said opposition
Patriotic Front president Michael Sata yesterday.
Sata said it was a mockery for the Western world to ask SADC to isolate
Zimbabwe when during the independence struggle many people in the region lost
their lives and property at their hands.
"Zambia lost human life and property through bombings from the Western weapons
and personnel," Sata said. "We lost prominent Zambians like Alick Nkhata and
they have not compensated Zambia for all this and they want Zambia to support
them."
He said the background of the EU and the US was not that of helping Africa
develop but to ensure that the continent remained underdeveloped by using money
and technology to intimidate Africans. He said the West had always been
thinking that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was foolish but he shocked
them at the right time.
Sata advised the British and the Americans to stop their arrogance and work
with President Mugabe to find solutions to the land reform programme which has
displaced many white farmers.
"The EU are racists and are only here to introduce direct colonialism for the
protection of their own interests," Sata charged. "Because of their arrogance
they have abandoned the Commonwealth to create their own racist organisation
which does not embrace other groupings."
He said the Americans tried to intimidate Japan by bombing Hiroshima and
Nagasaki using deadly, destructive weapons. Sata said the Americans, though
having managed to bomb Japan into submission, were disappointed that Japan
became independent economically.
"Today the Americans want to become friends of Japan when it suits them because
when Japan and Korea became advanced in motor industry, they introduced laws to
restrict cars exported to America," he said. Sata said the Americans' attempt
to declare a blockade against Cuba 40 years ago failed because the Cubans were
determined to develop themselves without the Western countries' assistance.
He said Cuba refused to submit to the Americans and to-date the country has
produced some of the most highly trained manpower in the world. Sata said the
Americans still exhibited their arrogance and sent mercenaries to attack
Vietnam when they realised that it was becoming economically and politically
independent.
"The majority of these soldiers were, however, black Americans commandeered by
white officers but all the same they came out more bruised," he said. Sata said
it was the Americans again who sent weapons to Unita in Angola to protect their
oil interests but made so much noise when the Angolan government asked Cuba to
assist them.
He said even the late rebel Unita leader Jonas Savimbi was supported by the
West under the guise of "killing" communism. Sata said the Americans and United
Kingdom were deliberately trying to wage war against Iraq under the pretext
that it was producing destructive weapons when they were just protecting their
interests in Kuwait.
He said people should be able to see that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was
not waging a war against anybody and did not, therefore, deserve the Super
power attack. "The Israelis are killing Palestinians with impunity using heavy
weapons but the Americans are just quiet," Sata said.
"They want to bomb Iraq because they know that the American children will be
miles away, so they don't care." Sata said Patriotic Front when in government
soon would ensure that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank
worked and complied with their terms.
"If Zambia has to develop we need to behave like Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro,
Muammar Gaddafi and Robert Mugabe," he said. He said the reduction of taxes and
bank interest rates shall be one of the priority areas of the Patriotic Front
government. Sata wondered how the EU was now supporting President Mwanawasa
whom they said was elected fraudulently in last year's presidential and general
elections.
He said the West had very little care for the prosperity of the country. "Few
days later, the West are funding Mr. Mwanawasa under the guise of fighting
corruption, they are legitimising his stay in power," Sata said.
"They are not even ashamed because what they would like is instability in
Zambia."

   

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