'West out to make Africa its battleground,' says Mutasa

Zimbabwe yesterday accused Western countries of allegedly seeking to destabilise Africa by setting up military bases on the continent which would in turn become targets for terrorist attacks.

Minister of Presidential Affairs Didymus Mutasa made the remarks when he officially opened the committee of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa (CISSA) Bureau meeting in Harare.

Mutasa cited the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) as an example of the West's agenda to set up permanent bases in Africa.

Describing as "heinous" recent terrorist attacks on the Westgate Mall in Kenya, Mutasa blamed the west for breeding extremists, who he alleged used Africa as a platform to launch attacks on the West and in the process destroy Africa's infrastructure.

"The targeting of Western interests has become an issue of concern, as it projects African States as having weak institutions to fight terrorism," Mutasa said in a keynote address to the meeting.

"It is, therefore our duty to enhance Africa's security architecture to ensure that terrorists do not find easy targets on the continent."

The advent of terrorism has, according to Mutasa, been abused by countries such as the US, which has a joint command base with a select African countries, code named United States Africa Command (AfriCom).

"Indications are that, these military deployments could pre-curse the establishment of permanent foreign military bases on the continent.

"Terrorists would then target Africa as a battleground where they can convincingly take on western interest," Mutasa said.

Mutasa said the West's cavalier attitude towards Africa and total disregard of African voices and opinions was reflected in the dismissal of the African Union and Sadc observer teams' positive verdict on the Zimbabwe elections.