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By Emily Mitchell
Introduction | Minority Rule | Mugabe’s Zimbabwe | Democratic Republic of Congo |
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The events of early 2000 threw the country’s troubles into such sharp relief that even the usually somnolent western media could no longer ignore the situation. The referendum that resoundingly rejected the government’s draft constitution, the burgeoning opposition to the ruling ZANU party, the land seizures by government supporters, the refusal of the authorities to evict the squatters, the intimidation primarily by government supporters during the elections and the potential two years of uncertainty before Presidential elections, all suggest that Zimbabwe is on the brink of immense change. After 20 years in power, Robert Mugabe seems to be losing control. Mr Mugabe is President of a country in which half of the adult population is unemployed and inflation is soaring. The average Zimbabwean is poorer now in real terms than at independence in 1980 (The Economist 8.5.2000). A disastrous combination of drought, a failed IMF structural adjustment programme and high ‘defence’ spending have all contributed to the economic breakdown. Mugabe’s prosecution of an aggressive war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues in the face of criticism from home and abroad. The army is profiting directly from the intervention in the DRC and the military establishment is consolidating its power and threatens democratic government. Despite all this, until May 2000 the UK government chose to continue to export high-technology munitions to the Zimbabwean government. This report attempts to present the arguments against renewing arms exports to Zimbabwe. The arguments demonstrate how exports would be contrary to a responsible foreign policy and how the granting of licences would contravene both UK guidelines and the EU Code of Conduct on Arms Exports, of which the UK is a signatory. |
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In 1965, Ian Smith, leader of the Rhodesian Front (RF), declared the country, then called Southern Rhodesia, independent in order to maintain white minority rule. The declaration contravened British colonial authority and was not recognised internationally. Rhodesia became an outcast and, like South Africa under apartheid, the RF government was subject to economic sanctions by the UN. Following a split in 1963, there were two main African nationalist movements: Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) and the Zimbabwean African People’s Union (ZAPU) led by Joshua Nkomo, then in exile in Tanzania. ZANU/ZAPU were defined partly, though not entirely, on ethnic grounds, with ZAPU being strongest among the Ndebele minority and ZANU a Shona movement. Through the years of white minority rule, nationalists gradually escalated their armed struggle, from a bombing campaign against key elements of the infrastructure in 1963-4, to guerrilla warfare based in neighbouring Mozambique. The history of the arms trade to Zimbabwe reflects political developments in the country and the region, but also a changing international context. Prior to independence in 1980, trade was defined by the imperatives of the Cold War. Though western countries officially did not trade with either side in the conflict, the RF government received a steady supply of essential materials, including the armaments with which to prosecute the war, and found markets for its own exports through clandestine trade with South Africa and with private companies using South Africa as an intermediary. UK-owned oil came to Rhodesia from South Africa and US companies bought chrome from the Rhodesian government. UK arms companies violated UN sanctions and sold aircraft and other armaments to Rhodesia throughout the conflict (Peoples News Service 30.10.1979). In 1974 the RF government received 41 Centurion Tanks from Jordan via South Africa. In 1976, Ian Smith declared that Henry Kissinger had promised US support for his government, though this was subsequently denied by the White House. The nationalist guerrillas, by the fact of their opposition to colonialism, received most of their support from countries aligned with China and the Soviet Union, including independent African states with socialist regimes. The USSR backed Nkomo, so China backed Mugabe (Army equipment is still mostly Chinese). Early on in the conflict, in 1966, ZIPRA guerrillas (the military wing of ZAPU) and ZANLA guerrillas (the military wing of ZANU) received training from Egypt and China. The Mozambiquan pro-independence guerrillas, Frelimo, also gave Zimbabwean fighters the training necessary to conduct a protracted struggle when it became apparent that Zimbabwean majority rule would require a long war. In 1976 they received Russian-made rocket launchers from Tanzania. East German training for ZANU fighters was expanded in 1979, when the Russians also provided artillery and surface-to-air missiles. Other countries which sent military aid or provided training included Romania, Cuba, Algeria and Yugoslavia. Against the trend of Western support for Rhodesia and Eastern-bloc support for the nationalists, it should be noted that the Scandinavian countries assisted the Zimbabwean guerrillas, though this consisted mostly of humanitarian and medical supplies (Seidman, Martin and Johnson 1982). The Thatcher government came to power in the UK in 1979 with the intention of recognising a power sharing arrangement between the Rhodesian Front and Rev. Muzorewa, one of the few black politicians who would work with them. Only economic pressure from Nigeria convinced the UK that a government which included Ian Smith would not be politically viable. The following year, after almost 15 years of bitterly-fought guerilla war, majority rule was secured and Zimbabwe was officially accepted as an independent nation state. At independence, there were still thousands of combatants to disarm and reintegrate into peacetime society. The years of war left the country saturated with weapons. |
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The legacies of the period of illegal white rule and armed resistance continue to influence Zimbabwean political and military affairs to the present day. The current military and political elite contains many veterans of the independence struggle, including the country’s leader (first Prime Minister and then President) since independence, Robert Mugabe. Contemporary political divisions have their origins in the 1963 nationalist movement split. This split also gave birth to civil unrest in Matabeleland after independence. This continued well into the 1980s, stunting the economy and breeding distrust of the newly formed national army among civilians. ZANU won the country’s first elections and came to power with Canaan Banana as President and Robert Mugabe as Prime Minister. The new government took a conciliatory approach to the status quo both within its own country and internationally. It did not seize the assets of wealthy settlers as white Rhodesians had feared. Mugabe pledged to honour all debts and loans of the previous regime, except those owed specifically for the munitions of the Rhodesian army. The ex-combatants had to be disarmed and retired in huge numbers and the new national army formed out of those remaining. Arms Sales In March 1980, the UK agreed to provide £75 million in training and aid to the Zimbabwean army. That same year, Mugabe turned down a deal for Soviet-built hardware that had been brokered by Joshua Nkomo, declaring that he did not want to enter into the ongoing trade relationship of buying spares and hiring Soviet instructors that this purchase would necessitate (The Guardian 11.6.1980). The following year, British Aerospace sold eight Hawk Jets to Zimbabwe for £20 million, thus cementing the relationship and effectively bringing Zimbabwe ‘on side’ in the battle for influence over the developing world. The Zimbabwean military continued to buy UK planes throughout the 1980s, including six Hawker Hunters and additional Hawk jets to replace some which were destroyed in 1983 by arsonists. This arsenal was augmented in 1985 by the purchase of seven additional Hawks and 13 Hawker Hunters. In the mid-eighties Zimbabwe received a large shipment of arms from Poland and other eastern bloc countries. It also negotiated with the Soviet Union for the purchase of MiG-29 fighters but, in 1987, turned down the deal. During 1987, the UK government offered Harrier and Hawk jets to Zimbabwe, possibly with the express intention, and certainly with the effect, of heading-off the deal with Moscow. Zimbabwe cancelled a further £400 million in orders for Soviet Union arms in 1992. External and Internal Alignments Mr Mugabe’s 1980 decisions regarding UK or Soviet arms purchases can be seen to have two distinct meanings, one primarily international and one of internal significance. Firstly, the decision to buy British and not to have a direct relationship with Moscow can, as indicated above, be viewed as a means of aligning Zimbabwe with the West. Mugabe’s statement suggested that the purchase of arms was not merely about the particular hardware acquired, but about the establishment of international relationships. The second way in which this event was indicative of broader trends lay in Mugabe’s rejection of Joshua Nkomo as a legitimate leader in the new administration. Increasingly the members of ZAPU felt disenfranchised by the ZANU government. The ZANU decision to stand alone for the general election rather than on a joint ticket with ZAPU came as a shock to many from ZAPU who had worked alongside ZANU during the war of independence. Those who had trained and fought for ZIPRA felt under-represented in the army. When a special presidential guard, the 5th Brigade, was trained by North Korea, Mugabe stated that one of its purposes would be to counteract ‘dissidents’, obliquely referring to the growing unrest among ex-ZIPRA fighters and their leaders (The Times 30.10.1981). Mugabe accused Nkomo and ZAPU of plotting to undermine the new government and the discovery of stored armaments on ZAPU property in 1982 seemed to confirm this. There followed a campaign of anti-government guerilla activity between 1982 and 1987 in Matabeleland. A small number of ex-ZIPRA guerrillas took up arms again, now against their former allies. There is some evidence that tensions between the nationalist groups was exacerbated by South African operatives deliberately attempting to destabilize the new nation. But while some of the dissidents were supported by South African arms, many ex-ZIPRA guerrillas were persecuted in the national army (the ZNA), and felt they had been driven to take up arms in defence of their lives. The ZNA dealt with the uprising in much the same manner that the Rhodesian army had dealt with them when they were guerrillas. The 5th Brigade of the ZNA engaged in indiscriminate intimidation and killing of civilians in the areas where the dissidents were thought to be active. There was a total suspension of civil rights in these areas and as complete as possible news blackout over the entire situation. These events continue to be significant because they established a precedent in Zimbabwe for large-scale internal repression by the security services. This has been borne out in the army’s subsequent responses to civil protest and to the members of the press who report civil rights violations. The Military Burden From the outset, Zimbabwe had a very large military establishment for a country of its size, with 15% of the budget devoted to military spending and 60,000 personnel (Jane’s World Armies, May 1998). The current figure for personnel is 40,000, compared to 5,000-22,000 for other Sub-Saharan African countries of similar populations, excluding Angola (International Institute for Strategic Studies, October 1999). This military emphasis suggests that the ZNA has burdened the developing economy and arms purchases have soaked up large amounts of public money. Despite this, Zimbabwe did manage to achieve dynamic economic growth during years of relative peace in the mid-nineteen nineties. However, implementation of an IMF structural adjustment programme failed to deliver economic stability and growth, and bad droughts coupled with recession in the West meant that the promise of prosperity was short lived. Recent years have seen a combination of worsening economic conditions and escalating military involvement in the conflict in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once again the country’s future looks precarious. |
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The conflict in the DRC has been called Africa’s first continental conflict as it has gradually drawn countries from all over the continent into its labyrinth of alliances. In the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, many of the Hutu militiamen, the interahamwe, escaped into then-Zaire and fought alongside the rebels of the Alliance des Forces Democratiques pour la Liberation du Congo-Zaire, led by Laurent Kabila, in return for being allowed to remain. Kabila’s 1997 rise to power in Zaire (which then became the Democratic Republic of the Congo) is therefore necessarily linked to the ousted Rwandan regime which orchestrated the 1994 massacre. Rwanda, now under RPF leadership, and Uganda are fighting on the side of Congolese rebel movements against Kabila. Angola, Chad, Namibia and Zimbabwe are actively involved in supporting the current DRC regime. Kabila has no substantial army of his own and is dependent upon the involvement of outside armies for his political survival (BBC Online 23.6.1999). Zimbabwe’s Current Involvement in the DRC Conflict Zimbabwe has been involved in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the mid-1990s in support of the Kabila regime. Though the government denies it, it is known that Zimbabwe sent a steady supply of stockpiled North Korean weapons to Kabila’s rebels before they came to power. Zimbabwe has been openly involved in the conflict since Kabila ousted the former dictator Mobuto Sese Seko in 1997 (Jane’s World Armies, May 1998). At the end of 1999, Zimbabwe had an estimated 11,000 troops fighting in the Congo and had incurred losses of close to $200 million-worth of equipment since the start of the conflict (BBC Online 1.10.1999 and 25.11.1999. Also see CAAT report ‘Small Arms and Africa’). The Zimbabwean government estimates the cost of this involvement at $3 million per month. This is a price that the country, in the midst of a gruelling recession with unemployment above 50% and inflation running at around 57% (The Guardian 21.1.2000), can ill afford. In summer 1999, Zimbabwe defaulted on its loans from the IMF, and the IMF initially suspended an emergency loan of $193 million because of evidence that Zimbabwe was stepping up its involvement in Congo (BBC Online 4.10.1999). There has also been tension over internal Zimbabwean government documents which estimate the cost of the war at around $27 million-per-month – nine times the $3 million-per-month cost publicly declared to the IMF – though the government has described this as a mistake made in converting Zim-dollars into US dollars. In order to meet the costs of the conflict, the army has set up self-administered commercial operations in the DRC. For services rendered, the Kabila regime ceded Zimbabwe the rights to a variety of economic concerns in Congo, including half a million acres of farmland, and copper, gold and diamond mines. But while the army declares that it is doing this so as to prevent its operations in Congo being a burden on the Zimbabwean treasury, the outcome is that ‘generals, political allies and relatives have made small fortunes’ (The Guardian 20.1.2000a). The possession by the army of these lucrative enterprises had led to speculation about the likelihood of a coup or other destabilising events resulting from top-heavy military power and wealth (The Guardian 20.1.2000a). Possibilities for Resolution of the DRC Conflict In July 1999, the Zambian government brokered a ceasefire agreement, known as the Lusaka accords, which was signed by Angola, Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe. It made provision for the UN and the Organisation for African Unity to constitute and deploy an appropriate peacekeeping force; the parties in the conflict were to be responsible for setting up a Joint Military Commission to conduct peacekeeping operations until the UN force could be deployed. In November, with almost all the provisions of the agreement unmet, the UN Secretary General recommended that the mandate of the ceasefire be extended until 15 January 2000. In February 2000 the UN authorised a 5,500 strong UN peacekeeping force, but continued failure to secure adequate security and cooperation guarantees meant that there was still no deployment by August. The continuing presence of foreign forces in DRC has been widely condemned by the international community. The United Nations Security Council, in a resolution passed in April 1999, called for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from the country. Their presence, in contravention of the Lusaka accords, stymies any movement forward in the peace process and complicates all attempts to resolve this conflict. Even during the Zimbabwean elections in June 2000, Kabila was meeting President Mugabe and Sam Nujoma, the President of Namibia. Following the summit, Kabila indicated that foreign troops would remain in the country as long as there was a military threat to his government (BBC Online 25.6.2000). |
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Following Zimbabwe’s intervention in the DRC in August 1998, there was, according to Foreign Office Minister Peter Hain, a ‘very clear change of policy’ regarding the licensing of equipment for ‘aggressive ends’ (Quadripartite Committee 17.7.2000). However, there was no formal or informal embargo, and licences for components for military goods continued to be granted. The DRC conflict dragged on, and in June 1999 the Presidency of the EU issued a Declaration committing Members States to ‘rigorous application’ of the EU Code of Conduct regarding the region. Again, there did not appear to be any substantial change in UK arms export policy (Quadripartite Committee 17.7.2000). In January 2000, The Guardian broke the news that Prime Minister Tony Blair had pushed through licences for controversial arms sales to Zimbabwe (The Guardian 20.1.2000c). Mr Blair determined, against public opinion and the recommendation of his own Foreign Secretary, that British Aerospace could sell spare parts for Hawk fighter jets to the Zimbabwean government. On 24th February 2000, the government duly announced that seven licence applications for Hawk spares would be granted. It was well known that Hawk fighter jets had been, and could again be, used for bombing raids in the DRC Conflict. Regardless of the presence or lack of an arms embargo on Zimbabwe, the licensing of Hawk spares blatantly contravened both UK and EU guidelines. Tony Blair argued that the UK had commercial obligations to fulfil a contract originating before the Labour government came to power, however, these obligations could have been overridden by a ministerial licensing decision (Quadripartite Committee 17.7.2000). Business interests appeared to be the determining factor for government policy. On 3rd May 2000, Robin Cook announced that the UK government would ‘refuse all new licence applications for exports of arms and military equipment to Zimbabwe’, and that this would ‘include all licences for spare parts in connection with previous contracts’ (Hansard 3.5.2000, col 150). He also reported that the Secretary of State for International Development had suspended the department’s support for Land Rovers for the Zimbabwean police, halting the supply of the remaining 450 vehicles. Nine days later Mr Cook announced that all extant licences would be revoked (Hansard 12.5.2000, col 493). Of the seven Hawk spares licences granted in February, most of the goods of one licence had been exported and approximately 20% of another. The other five were returned unused (Quadripartite Committee 17.7.2000). Important questions need to be asked about what changed between January and May 2000 that caused contractual obligations, which had been so compelling before, to vanish into thin air. Certainly, civil unrest during early 2000 escalated to the point that even members of the elite began to be affected by it, notably white landowners whose farms were illegally squatted by Mugabe’s supporters. Presumably this, or the media storm associated with it, provided the motivation for an embargo that civilian lives in the DRC could not. There is no reason why a similar sequence of events should not happen again, though next time it might pass unnoticed. The Quadripartite Committee (a joint committee consisting of the Defence, Foreign Affairs, International Development and Trade and Industry committees) suggested that, but for a leak, the issue might not have become known until the end of 2001. To address this lack of transparency it proposed that a system of prior scrutiny of arms export licences, operated by the Quadripartite Committee, should be ‘put in place forthwith’. |
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It is laudable that the UK government finally decided to stop granting export licences to UK firms to sell arms to Zimbabwe, even though it was extremely late. The following analysis provides reasons why the UK in particular, and the West in general, should continue this embargo. Destabilization of Central
and Southern Africa Lack of respect for human
rights A potentially unstable
internal situation, with the military gaining unprecedented executive
power
The high cost to the Zimbabwean
economy of present military spending Military spending |
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DRC - Democratic Republic
of the Congo
© September 2000 ISBN: 0 9506922 6 3 |