David Miliband

EU in Zimbabwe

I welcome the EU mission to Zimbabwe. The representatives played their cards well - supporting the global political agreement, but making enhanced EU support contingent on its implementation. The team recognised political realities, meeting both President Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai.

But they also made clear that they backed reform, and that  the measures targeted on the Mugabe elite could not be lifted as a prelude to the return to the status quo ante. The EU is the world's second biggest aid donor. It will need to play an important role in the reconstruction of Zimbabwe. And it needs to do it step by step.

Posted at 12:27 15 September 2009 by David Miliband  |  Comments[3]

Shaking Hands with the Zimbabwean Government

Yesterday I met Tendai Biti, Secretary General of the MDC and Minister of Finance in the new transitional government. His economic responsibilities are massive - but the use of Dollars and Rand as hard currency has brought inflation down from crushing levels and brought food and goods back into the shops.

His economic plan is a good basis for progress. But politics hold the key - whether Prime Minister Tsvangirai and his colleagues are able to exercise the power for which the Zimbabwean people voted, and which the agreement to a transitional government provides. That is the basis for the re-engagement of the international community on which Zimbabwe depends.

Posted at 17:26 01 May 2009 by David Miliband  |  Comments[7]

Good news from Zimbabwe?

Posted at 13:20 27 March 2009 by David Miliband  |  Comments[2]

Death of Mrs Tsvangirai

It is the cruellest of twists that the wife of the new Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai should have been killed in a road accident. Her husband has struggled, with her support, to replace the misrule of Robert Mugabe. As he begins to do so she is cruelly cut down. I spoke to our Ambassador in Harare today. My first question was the one asked by every Zimbabwean: was it really an accident?  It seems so. A terrible accident, leaving a husband and six children struggling to come to terms with the implications for their family and their country. Morgan Tsvangirai has our deepest condolences and strongest support at this most testing of times.

Posted at 13:39 08 March 2009 by David Miliband  |  Comments[1]

Zimbabwe: Rhetoric and Reality

The UN Security Council re-started its engagement with Zimbabwe on Monday - not a moment too soon.  The cholera (and now anthrax) that threatens neighbouring countries is proof if any were needed after 4 million refugees that the Zimbabwe crisis is a crisis for the whole of southern Africa. The Security Council is not yet close to taking action - divisions are still too deep.  But the rhetoric of Mugabe that cholera is 'over' is gut-wrenching when you read the reports of what is actually happening in the country.  For a flavour of reality see the two FCO bloggers , Grace Mutandwa and Philip Barclay

Posted at 16:18 19 December 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[10]

The next chapter of Zimbabwe's future is for Zimbabweans to write now

I spoke to our Ambassador in Harare today. Zimbabwe's story always seems to have another page to turn. Since Monday's signature, the parties have been locked in discussions over Ministerial responsibilities. Ordinary Zimbabweans and the outside world are waiting to hear the outcome.
 
Zimbabwe's people need a government that works in their interests. We, the outside world, need a functioning administration with which to engage. If a new government can let NGOs get food out to people and can deliver macroeconomic stability, then all of Zimbabwe's friends can give Zimbabwe  more of the support its people need. As the second largest bilateral donor, Britain's been trying to deliver food aid  of course. But more international help will come if the new administration can show everyone it is serious about change. 
 
The next chapter of Zimbabwe's future is for  Zimbabweans to write now . We'll keep working to make it a positive one.

Posted at 19:24 18 September 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[12]

Zimbabwe: Chink of light?

I saw on arrival in Brussels today that everyone was on tenterhooks for the details of the Mugabe–Tsvangirai deal on the future of Zimbabwe, brokered under South African auspices.  That is not an exaggeration.  The suffering has gone on so long that many people could not see any change coming.  But it seems that some time last week there was a shift.  The pressure for recognition of Morgan Tsvangirai’s democratic legitimacy has finally yielded him real power.  Or so it seems.

The Europe response is cautious - necessarily so given the history of coalition governments in Zimbabwe.  But we will be there as change shows itself to be real – above all real – offering hope to the Zimbabwe people.

Posted at 15:19 15 September 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[2]

European Action1: Zimbabwe

European Foreign Ministers agreed sanctions on travel and finance relating to key members of the Mugabe regime in Brussels this week.  This is intended to make clear continued international determination to balance up the competing forces in Zimbabwe – an opposition which won the parliamentary and presidential elections and a government that has turned on its own people.  In the light of the welcome news of a negotiating process being established in Harare, the need for clear pressure on the regime is increased.  We all want the negotiations to succeed, but no one believes they will unless there is real pressure on the government to recognise the will of the people.

Posted at 16:10 23 July 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[2]

Kenya: From crisis to leadership

The following report shows how the new Kenyan prime minister Raila Odinga has established himself as a distinctive voice in African politics - straight talking and clear. I am meeting him to survey changes in his own country since the crisis of six months ago that saw him broker a govt of national unity with President Kibaki (he's in London for talks with the PM). Kenya is not the political model for Zimbabwe's future, but it does show that new leadership can emerge to play a responsible role at home and abroad.[Read More]

Posted at 14:43 23 July 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[1]

Mediation or pressure?

The vote at the UN yesterday on Zimbabwe was not a North/South split - after all Burkino Faso voted for the resolution. But it did reveal, in the use of the veto by Russia and China, two different ways of thinking about the exercise of responsibility in the modern world.

The argument at one level was about whether to give mediation "longer". But how much longer? And how much more suffering in the interim?

But there is a more fundamental point - or two actually. First, since when does pressure on a regime that has been flagrant in its abuse of human rights and democratic standards undermine mediation? Surely it brings home much more clearly that the world is determined to tilt the balance away from a government that has forfeited international respect? But second, the argument of China and Russia was that the Security Council had no business "interfering" in a national issue. But the crisis in Zimbabwe has gone way beyond that - not least through three million plus refugees caught up in the violence fleeing to South Africa (see above "If your neighbour's house is on fire" of 8 July).

The Russian and Chinese vetoes have shielded Robert Mugabe and 13 of his top supporters from international pressure. Their preferred route of mediation will have the chance to prove itself - too late for too many but no one will be happier than I if I wake up one day soon and find that this route has delivered a government that respects the March 29 election result.

Meanwhile the governments of western and other democracies should have no regrets about bringing into the open a vital debate. The alternative is for the threat of veto to mean we all clam up and pretend that there is no disagreement. That is not real diplomacy.

Posted at 18:19 12 July 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[8]

Second liberation

Nelson Mandela talked in his book Long Walk to Freedom of the second liberation struggle, from winning political equality to tackling economic and social inequality. That is the challenge for today's South Africa, and was the focus of my speech today at the University of South Africa (founded in 1874, now providing distance learning to some 275,000 africans).

Africa's problems can seem mountainous: on aids, crime, education, there is massive challenge. But in South Africa there are also massive resources, not least the goodwill of the world that wants to be part of the solution.

The questions from students were revealing. Is Zimbabwe's crisis Britain's fault? Why shouldn't Africa find independent solutions?

Trust needs to be earned, not assumed, especially for the generation that is too young to know the way important parts of the world rallied to the anti apartheid cause. That is an important part of the rationale for the UK-South Africa bilateral forum that this year brings together five government departments (health, sport, trade, home affairs and the FCO) along with representatives from British and South African civil society (focusing on climate change, peace and security, economic development). I attended the first bilateral forum in an advisory capacity in Cape Town in 1999. This relationship is worth the investment, because there are few problems in Africa that will be solved without South Africa.

Posted at 04:03 08 July 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[3]

If your neighbour's house is on fire...

I was told today about an old Soto proverb - that if your neighbour's house is on fire then your house is on fire. Today Zimbabwe feels like it is being set alight by brutal intimidation and political repression, never mind economic meltdown.

Yesterday I met some of the 2000 refugees from Zimbabwe seeking refuge in the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg. Their stories are harrowing: death of loved ones, threats to life and livelihood. The Bishop told me of an upsurge in the last week/ten days of orphans arriving at the church. (He also told me about teachers among the refugees setting up care and teaching for refugee children). I also saw the social strains arriving from the mass exodus of 2-3 million Zimbabweans into South Africa - in Alexandra township local residents at the scene of recent "xenophobic violence" talking about the danger posed to their society by foreigners.

Mugabe has never been weaker or more isolated yet his hold on the central institutions of state power - central bank, army command - mean he is not yet out of power. That makes the discussions at the UN this week especially important. Travel and financial sanctions on named members of the regime - plus an international arms embargo - would put the squeeze on the regime in a way that they have not been squeezed before.

Nine votes are needed ... without a veto from any of the permanent members of the UNSC.

Posted at 03:38 08 July 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[8]

Trillion Dollar Bail

We will address Zimbabwe and add the G8 voice to growing numbers of Africans (now led by Nelson Mandela) decrying the leadership of Robert Mugabe.  The economic descent of the country can be seen by the bail terms for MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti - a $1000 (bin) bail sets you back 100GBP. By next week that would be a fraction given 8 million percent inflation.

Posted at 15:34 27 June 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[4]

Blog 24 June: Zimbabwe: UN Action

Yesterday's UN Security Council statement represents a significant step forward in the way the world has engaged with the issue of Zimbabwe. The language is unequivocal - condemnation of the regime. It won unanimous support - including South Africa as well as China. The desire for regional leadership - from the AU and SADC - clearly expressed.

Yesterday's exchanges in the House of Commons I hope clarified the difference between recognition of a state - which is necessary for diplomatic representation - and recognition of the legitimacy of a government, which is different. We of course "recognise" Zimbabwe as a country; we do not recognise the legitimacy of Mugabe's rule, not least since even he accepts that he lost the Parliamentary and Presidential election on 29 March (even if the Opposition challenger did not get 50% of the vote in the first round).

I hope they also exposed the hollow claim that we have to choose between self defeating megaphone diplomacy and silence. In every part of the world history matters. Britain's history of global engagement includes good and bad. But while we are conscious of our history, and conscious of the way it can be misused and caricatured, that history is a reason for good judgment about what to say - not a reason to say nothing.

Posted at 09:40 26 June 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[3]

All eyes on Luxembourg

EU Foreign Ministers meet in Luxembourg today. There is one unplanned item on the agenda – the rejection by Irish voters of the Lisbon reform Treaty.  We will do our business from Kosovo to Zimbabwe but all eyes and ears will be trained on the next steps on the Treaty. It’s not pretty but it is necessary for the EU to give Ireland first of all time to take stock of how they want to respond to the no vote and what they want to do with their ratification process.  Instant answers are not usually thoughtful answers in this area. It is clear that if the Irish do not ratify the Treaty then the Treaty will not pass into law.

 I don’t understand the argument that the Irish vote means we should abandon our ratification. We need a view. The Irish have said they think we should carry on. I spoke on Saturday to foreign ministers from Sweden, Spain and Holland, all of whom are part way through their ratification process, and all of whom plan to proceed with ratification. Last Wednesday’s debate in the House of Lords included powerful speeches from Lord Howe, Lord Brittan and Lord Patten  about the virtues of parliamentary accountability except in unusual cases of major constitutional change. 

I have not detected a great drive either to exclude the Irish or to enter a new institutional negotiation or to revive an ‘inner core’ of European countries. In fact I have detected a great sucking of teeth; there really was not a plan B in a cupboard. I explored this on the Marr Programme yesterday

Posted at 10:49 16 June 2008 by David Miliband  |  Comments[16]