News / Regional
CIO officers urged Zapu to hide arms that sparked Gukurahundi massacres
26 Feb 2015 at 12:40hrs | Views
A senior member of Zapu has accused Britain of helping to spark the Gukurahundi massacres to destabilise the new black government in the early 1980s.
He said white members of the Central Intelligence Organisation, led by Ken Flower, advised Zapu to keep some of its weapons it had brought into the country following the pre-independence ceasefire in late 1979.
In line with his reconciliation policy, then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe allowed Ian Smith's generals to head the army, police and CIO without consulting his inner circle and at the behest of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
"The white guys in CIO told us the ceasefire might not hold and we might need the arms if the political situation degenerated. It made sense to us," said the official. Zapu cached a large amount of weaponry at a farm in Gwai in southern Matabeleland.
"The Rhodesian security agents who were working with apartheid South Africa and a close team of advisers from Britain took advantage of the tense relations between Nkomo and Mugabe after the ceasefire to ignite a civil war," added the source.
Unbeknown to Zapu, Flower and General Peter Walls went to Emmerson Mnangagwa-who headed the national security ministry - and Mugabe and tipped them off about the arms cache. They convinced them that Nkomo was plotting an insurrection.
"It became clear to us years later that Smith's guys just wanted us to fight each other. Mugabe and his lieutenants were gullible and took what the white CIO guys said without questioning it. The fact that they actually discovered the arms convinced them that we intended to revolt," said the source, who became part of Mugabe's government after the signing of a unity accord with Zapu in December 1987.
"Britain was never comfortable considering that Mugabe was a self-proclaimed socialist-communist. But, it could not come out in the open about this," he added.
"I have never understood why Britain did not condemn Mugabe for Gukurahundi. Perhaps the British need to explain why, as people were dying in their thousands, they hailed Mugabe as an exemplary African leader.
"Not only was the UK giving Mugabe financial and other forms of support, Thatcher invited him to Britain to dine with the Queen and he was given a knighthood. The question is, did Britain agree to Gukurahundi?" he said.
"Gukurahundi was never a war against the Ndebele people. It was a war against Zapu. Mugabe wanted to ensure that we were finished," he added.
He said white members of the Central Intelligence Organisation, led by Ken Flower, advised Zapu to keep some of its weapons it had brought into the country following the pre-independence ceasefire in late 1979.
In line with his reconciliation policy, then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe allowed Ian Smith's generals to head the army, police and CIO without consulting his inner circle and at the behest of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
"The white guys in CIO told us the ceasefire might not hold and we might need the arms if the political situation degenerated. It made sense to us," said the official. Zapu cached a large amount of weaponry at a farm in Gwai in southern Matabeleland.
"The Rhodesian security agents who were working with apartheid South Africa and a close team of advisers from Britain took advantage of the tense relations between Nkomo and Mugabe after the ceasefire to ignite a civil war," added the source.
"It became clear to us years later that Smith's guys just wanted us to fight each other. Mugabe and his lieutenants were gullible and took what the white CIO guys said without questioning it. The fact that they actually discovered the arms convinced them that we intended to revolt," said the source, who became part of Mugabe's government after the signing of a unity accord with Zapu in December 1987.
"Britain was never comfortable considering that Mugabe was a self-proclaimed socialist-communist. But, it could not come out in the open about this," he added.
"I have never understood why Britain did not condemn Mugabe for Gukurahundi. Perhaps the British need to explain why, as people were dying in their thousands, they hailed Mugabe as an exemplary African leader.
"Not only was the UK giving Mugabe financial and other forms of support, Thatcher invited him to Britain to dine with the Queen and he was given a knighthood. The question is, did Britain agree to Gukurahundi?" he said.
"Gukurahundi was never a war against the Ndebele people. It was a war against Zapu. Mugabe wanted to ensure that we were finished," he added.
Source - zimbabwean
