Mugabe and African liberation diplomacy

French officials are blamed for killing with a plane crash Bartholomew Boganza, a Catholic priest turned nationalist politician who rejected joining a French federal project; and proposed a ‘’Latin Central African Federation’’ which included: Ubangi Shari, Chad, Cameroun, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville and today’s Democratic Republic of Congo. After France sabotaged his initiative, he kept the […]

French officials are blamed for killing with a plane crash Bartholomew Boganza, a Catholic priest turned nationalist politician who rejected joining a French federal project; and proposed a ‘’Latin Central African Federation’’ which included: Ubangi Shari, Chad, Cameroun, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville and today’s Democratic Republic of Congo. After France sabotaged his initiative, he kept the dream by renaming his country, Ubangi Shari, as ‘’Central African Republic’’.
Patrice Lumumba’s recall of Belgian colonial brutalities against Congolese peoples, including: cutting off hands of millions incited American President Eisenhower into endorsing his immediate termination. The Portuguese secret police used letter bomb post-marked from Sweden to kill Eduardo Mondlane, a former Anthropology professor at Syracuse University turned leader of armed struggle in Mozambique.   His successor, President Samora Machel, and Amilcar Cabral were also murdered.
Cote d’Ivoire’s Laurent Gbagbo is in prison at The Hague; having dared to deny European Union companies monopoly over every government contract. He deepened its bitterness by awarding contracts to Chinese companies. The legacy of this diplomacy of cold-blooded murder of Africa’s economic nationalists has earned bitter contempt among Africans.
Countries use their diplomacy to promote national aspirations and concrete interests. As an example, Obama’s scotched-earth diplomacy in Libya, Egypt, Syria and Iraq has turned Arab guns against each other to enable a policy of ‘’no American boots’’ on Arab arenas of bloodshed.
President Mugabe has expressed the African version of self interest with his doctrine of ‘’Africa is for Africans’’. In his doctrine, resources ranging from butterflies fluttering over fields of flowers; clouds racing over hills; grasslands and medicinal plants – which support tourism and pharmaceutical drugs – must be owned and exploited by black Zimbabweans primarily for the benefit of black Zimbabweans.
Mugabe’s voice has won hearts and minds across Africa following decades of NATO’s silence over slave economies run by Firestone Company in Liberia; engineering debts and World Bank policies for social and economic warfare against African peoples.
As Mugabe chairs the post-24th summit of the African Union he should recall power in a people mobilized to construct a desired economic future; the secret weapon of revolutionary armed struggle. Such a seed of mobilization exists in the ‘’African Peer Review Mechanism, APRM’’. One vital arm of APRM is African leaders reviewing each other’s performance.  A country that has voluntarily asked to be reviewed is reported on by African experts mandated by the leaders themselves. Some countries are reluctant to be reviewed. Mugabe may wish to reach the peoples of these countries to build fire under their leaders.
The experts who write these reports collaborate with local committees consisting of professional associations, trade unions, academics, media workers, bankers, health workers, farmers, traders, and NGOs. A local committee intensively researches conditions in a country and produces a report independent of government officials before discussing findings with experts drawn from other African countries. Such experts include former governors of central banks, ministers of finance, distinguished accountants, economists and other scientists.
In November 2012, NGOs that I interviewed in Accra, Ghana, complained bitterly of lack of funds to enable them monitor Government’s implementation of recommendations in the APRM report on Ghana. In Rwanda, journalists from the private media were critical of officials prohibiting them from earning revenue from advertisements. President Mugabe should reinvigorate reviews of governance by mobilized citizens under APRM.
 In 1980 his victory aroused vigorous celebrations by students of Ahmadu Bello University. The students had, since 1978, attended annual simulations of summits of the Organisation of African Unity by their peers. A ‘guerrilla leader’ from Zimbabwe’s ZANU-PATRIOTIC FRONT always reported from the warfront to crowds at these summits; and of televised versions of them. They were emotionally and intellectually part of Mugabe’s struggle to win power.
On January 28th, 2014 two students from Anglican Girls Grammar School were flown by the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation in London to participate in an ‘’African Youth Forum’’ of 250 youths. They delivered speeches as Presidents of Zimbabwe and Senegal at a ‘mini AU-Summit’ to the participants. They carried to a trans-Africa level the legacy of OAU Summits at the Ahmadu Bello University.
 The Africa Youth Forum was jointly organised by Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chair of the African Union Commission and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. President Mugabe, as Chair of the African Union, would usefully initiate a maiden ALL-AFRICA STUDENT AFRICAN UNION SUMMIT at Addis Ababa, and AU Student Clubs in schools in each African country. The African Peer Review Mechanism would benefit from continent-wide rainstorms of youth pan-Africanism.