Story behind Britain, allies intransigence IT is common diplomatic practice to periodically move ambassadors from their postings and deploy them elsewhere to avoid the danger of contamination that comes through the development of relationships and personal attachments with the politics of host countries. When this happens, an envoy is compromised making his/her dispatches suspect. But even this rule, it seems would still have fallen short in the case of three Western ambassadors Ms Deborah Bronnert of Britain, Mr Bruce Wharton of the US and his Australian counterpart Mr Matthew Neuhaus who have let their sympathies for the opposition MDC-T and their personal affinities to Zimbabwe lead them to mis-inform their capitals in a way that has created an impasse between Zimbabwe and their home countries. So dire is the situation that sources at the US embassy in Harare say Washington will, in the coming weeks, dispatch deputy assistant secretary of state in the bureau of African affairs Dr Shannon Smith to Harare to ascertain the true Zimbabwean story in light of unreliable dispatches from Mr Wharton. Australia, Britain and the US have continued casting aspersions on the harmonised elections that have been widely endorsed by the African Union, Sadc, Comesa, the African Caribbean and Pacific countries, and over 40 countries spread across all five continents. This has put the three countries at cross-purposes with the progressive world and raised the spectre of race relations, all because of dishonest dispatches by embedded envoys. Sources say the misinformation, which has since been picked by their capitals, has put Australia, Britain and the US in an unenviable position that requires embarrassing climb-downs, which is why Washington had taken the lead to send a fact-finding official. In fact, sources in the diplomatic community say, the trio no longer sees eye-to-eye with moderates like EU head of delegation Mr Aldo Del’Arricia, with whom they interact in the Fishmonger Group. A look at the history of the envoys concerned reveals that apart from the obvious constraints of kinship that put them in solidarity with their kinsmen who lost the farms they held during the fast-track land reform programme, the ambassadors all have personal attachment to Zimbabwe that makes them virtual activists rather than envoys. Ms Bronnert of the 10 000 assisted voters infamy, apart from the kith and kin issue, was in Zimbabwe soon after independence in 1980 as a housewife to a soldier who was part of the British Military Advisory and Training Team (BMATT) that helped in the integration Zanla, Zipra and Rhodesian Front soldiers to form the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. As such, Ms Bronnert had a long running association with, and developed personal affinities that have clouded her view of developments in Zimbabwe. Mr Wharton, who presented his credentials to President Mugabe on November 15, 2012, lived in Zimbabwe for years as a senior official in the United States Information Service during which time he got exposed to the contending politics in Zimbabwe which saw him develop his own affinities which, however, did not translate into affinities for Zanu-PF. The USIS houses VOA which in turn chaperoned Studio 7, the pirate radio broadcast conceived to abet MDC-T’s regime change agenda. Although Mr Wharton could not be reached for confirmation, it is understood that Studio 7 was one of the key projects which USIS Harare launched in the wake of the deterioration of relations between Harare and Washington although it is not clear whether Mr Wharton played a direct role.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Oct 2013 08:11:42 +0000
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