News / Wikileaks
Senior Jesuit priest wanted a 'secure way out' for Mugabe
15 Sep 2011 at 12:26hrs | Views
Zimbabwe's senior Jesuit priest, Father Fidelis Mukonori, met with then US Ambassador Christopher Dell and recommended western re-engagement, including a secure "way out" for President Mugabe.
In a wikileak cable released by the whistle-blower website, Father Mukonori allegedly met and told the Ambassador on 10 January 2006 that the ZANU-PF leadership around President Mugabe lacked the political clout, intelligence, experience or vision to lift Zimbabwe out of the hole they had dug.
Father Mukonori is also alleged to have told the US envoy that he would be open to discussing with government leaders the post-Mugabe reforms needed for re-engagement - in confidence if they so desired.
He added that the presence of some of the current leadership in a post-Mugabe government would make re-engagement far more difficult.
Says Dell, "Mukonori agreed the transition was underway, said the most objectionable ZANU-PF leaders would not survive politically, and promised to consider arranging private meetings. He also recounted his successful efforts against the education bill and his efforts to broker a GOZ-UN compromise over temporary shelter for the victims of Operation Murambatsvina."
Mukonori asked whether the US government and the UK could not develop a "joint approach" to Zimbabwe, arguing that President 'Mugabe was serious last August when he said he would rather talk to Tony Blair than Morgan Tsvangirai.'
Dell also says, 'Mukonori agreed with the Ambassador that Zimbabwe already had a foot in the post-Mugabe era, rendering the octogenarian leader increasingly irrelevant to the country's future. He added that the people would never acquiesce to Mugabe's replacement by any of the worst ZANU-PF aspirants and he promised to give the matter further thought and get back to the Ambassador on arranging confidential meetings with elements of the leadership that might be pen to discussing the future."
However, Dell comments that the United States government was skeptical that a more engaging posture on their part would prompt President 'Mugabe to confront the country's deep political and economic problems more sensibly.'
In a wikileak cable released by the whistle-blower website, Father Mukonori allegedly met and told the Ambassador on 10 January 2006 that the ZANU-PF leadership around President Mugabe lacked the political clout, intelligence, experience or vision to lift Zimbabwe out of the hole they had dug.
Father Mukonori is also alleged to have told the US envoy that he would be open to discussing with government leaders the post-Mugabe reforms needed for re-engagement - in confidence if they so desired.
He added that the presence of some of the current leadership in a post-Mugabe government would make re-engagement far more difficult.
Mukonori asked whether the US government and the UK could not develop a "joint approach" to Zimbabwe, arguing that President 'Mugabe was serious last August when he said he would rather talk to Tony Blair than Morgan Tsvangirai.'
Dell also says, 'Mukonori agreed with the Ambassador that Zimbabwe already had a foot in the post-Mugabe era, rendering the octogenarian leader increasingly irrelevant to the country's future. He added that the people would never acquiesce to Mugabe's replacement by any of the worst ZANU-PF aspirants and he promised to give the matter further thought and get back to the Ambassador on arranging confidential meetings with elements of the leadership that might be pen to discussing the future."
However, Dell comments that the United States government was skeptical that a more engaging posture on their part would prompt President 'Mugabe to confront the country's deep political and economic problems more sensibly.'
Source - zbc
