SPECTATORS FOR AFRICA | 21 June 2003

In any discussion about the justifications for the war in Iraq, there comes the Zimbabwe point. Yeah, says the sceptic, but what about Zimbabwe, eh? If we go to war to liberate the Iraqis from the tyranny of Saddam, why won’t we lift a finger to free the victims of Robert Mugabe? Is it a kind of racism?

To which the answer is, of course not. It is just that no vital Western geostrategic interests appear engaged by the disaster of Zimbabwe. If we ran our cars on bananas, matters might be different. But since Zimbabwe is neither an oil-producer nor an avowed sponsor of Middle Eastern terror, the dictator is left on his throne. His people may be murdered, their farms stolen, their children facing starvation, but the Western powers content themselves with the wittering banalities of summit communiqués. The same apathy is detectable in our entire policy towards Africa.