The Sunday Mail
Nobleman Runyanga
RECENT events in Africa and elsewhere in the world indicate that the West is increasingly using assassinations as a weapon to achieve its regime change mission on the continent. The West’s quest to exploit African resources using pliant leaders has seen it increasing its arsenal to include the assassination of incumbent national leaders so that they can replace them with individuals of their choice.
In fact, the West has come full circle. After realising that reliance on the human rights and democracy narrative, which saw them sponsoring the Arab Spring’s violent and destructive protests in North Africa 10 years ago, is losing currency and effectiveness, they are back to “basics.”
They are back to the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s when the US assassinated the Democratic Republic of Congo’s first Prime Minister, the late Patrice Émery Lumumba on 17 January 1961 to pave way for the late Joseph Mobutu, who would allow the Americans unfettered access to the nation’s mineral resources. The situation on the African continent and elsewhere is back to the time when the first Ghanaian President, the late Kwame Nkrumah survived five assassination attempts in the six years between 1956 and 1962 for his commitment to the total liberation of the African continent.
Since the beginning of the year, the world has witnessed with consternation, as a number of assassinations become common currency of politics again in Africa and elsewhere. On 26 June 2021, the authorities in Madagascar foiled an assassination attempt on the Madagascan President, Andry Rajoelina’s right hand man, General Richard Ravalomanana. Almost a month later, on 22 July another assassination attempt was made on Rajoelina himself on the back of a constitutional referendum which was perceived as seeking to entrench his power.
As was the case in the past, a Western power’s hand was evident as among the six people, who were arrested for the attempted assassination, one was French national and two had joint citizenships, which include French citizenship. Among the three, two were former workers of the French Military. France ruled Madagascar between 1896 and June 1960, when the latter got her independence.
The Madagascan incident was preceded by a similar one on 20 July 2021 in the West African country of Mali where that country’s transitional president, Assimi Goita survived an assassination attempt.
An unidentified assailant rushed towards Goita during the Eid al-Adha prayer in the Grand Mosque of Bamako to stab him but was checked by the timely intervention of his security team. The assailant died in hospital.
In April 2021, former Chadian president, Idriss Derby Itno was killed in clashes with the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT) rebels. While his death could easily be dismissed as a victim of military clashes with rebels, the fact that he had just won an election for his sixth term having led the former French colony since 1980, makes it an assassination.
It is not accidental that most coups and assassinations and assassination attempts occur in former French colonies. This reflects the European country’s continued interest in the neo-colonial subjugation of Africa through cherry-picking leaders and deposing regimes that do not bend to its whims. This exposes the country’s double standards as many Western countries regard themselves as the paragons of democracy by day but continue to seek to have a say in the politics of their former colonies.
Back in March 2004, Zimbabwean authorities intercepted and arrested a contingent of 64 Simon Mann-led mercenaries at the Robert Mugabe International Airport, who were on their way to the Equatorial Guinea to depose that country’s leader, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
It was established that the mission of the team, which was made up mainly of Angolans, South Africans and Namibians, had been planned and bankrolled by U.S, British and Spanish spy agencies. Although the Equatorial Guinea is a former Spanish colony, France has interests in the country. Former British Prime Minister, the late Margaret Thatcher’s son, Mark, was linked to the mercenaries.
Elsewhere in the world, on July 7, 2021, former Haitian President, Jovenel Moise was assassinated at his house in the Caribbean country’s capital, Port-au-Prince by mercenaries who are believed to have been hired from Colombia.
Over 30 people including businessmen, former Government officials, former Colombian soldiers as well as a Haitian pastor, Christian Emmanuel Sanon, were implicated in the assassination plot. The US was also implicated as Sanon lived in Florida in the recent past. Anyone can reason that the US assisted Sanon by hiring Colombian mercenaries to get rid of Moise since he (Sanon) nursed presidential ambitions.
In their bid to place African individuals of their preference in positions of State power, some Western countries are also advising their candidates in some countries to lay assassination charges against the incumbents to besmirch the latter during election seasons. In Zambia opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) leader, Hakainde Hichilema has claimed no less than seven times that there were assassination attempts on his life since 2011, when the Edgar Lungu-led Patriotic Front came into power in 2011.
The most recent claim was in June when he claimed that the Zambian Police Service (ZPS) had fired live ammunition at him while he was in the Copperbelt on June 5 this year. Zambian Inspector General of Police, Kakoma Kanganja dismissed the claim.
Back at home, many will remember how the MDC Alliance faction leader, Nelson Chamisa brazenly and shamelessly claimed in November 2018 State security agents had attempted to abduct him near the Mabvuku high density suburb of Harare on his way from a rally in Marondera. It later turned out that the alleged event was, in fact, a staged stunt to make up for his poor performance during the 2018 elections and deflect attention from his non-electability and leadership deficit.
The recent events in South Africa are indicative of the fact that it is not only the French who are seeking to call the shots especially in resource-rich African countries. The violent protests in that country, which saw over 300 people dying last month, were not just about the ruling African National Council (ANC) power struggles personified by President Cyril Ramaphosa and his predecessor, Jacob Zuma or socio-economic inequalities as most people simplistically conclude. They were also about the West sponsoring the organisers of the protests and destruction to lend credence to their selfish and false narrative that Africans cannot run a country or economy like that of South Africa.
From the foregoing cases, it is evident that the West is upping the ante in terms of its onslaught on African countries and some small countries elsewhere on the globe like Haiti. This calls for continental security sector bodies such as the Committee of Intelligence and Security Services of Africa (CISSA) to redouble their efforts in thwarting the determined assault on the continent by the West and its local running dogs.
The prevailing continental security situation calls for law enforcement agents like the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) to co-operate with and draw from the experiences of the International Criminal Police Organisation (InterPol) in flushing any citizens who aid and abet the West’s sinister agenda.
Some anti-Government elements in Zimbabwe were evidently excited during the South African protests with some taking to the social media to compare how the South African and Zimbabwean authorities handled protests. Others were wishing that Zimbabwe could also have her own incarcerated Zuma to trigger similar protests they could use to fight President Emmerson Mnangagwa, ZANU PF and Government on behalf of the opposition and its Western owners and handlers.
While the right to protest and petition is enshrined in Section 59 of the Constitution, those who may be itching to protest should know that no right is absolute and that Zimbabwe has laws, law enforcement agents and competent courts of law that stand ready to deal with them if they break the law in the process of exercising their right to protest.
Past experience had shown that most protests especially those involving the MDC Alliance faction end in violence and wanton and mindless destruction of innocent citizens’ property. When this happens law enforcement agents naturally come in and perpetrators will only have themselves to blame.
The assassination cases referred to earlier in the article showed that some local unpatriotic citizens always offer themselves for use by foreign powers against their people.
Zimbabwe is no different. Even during the liberation war, there were always some Morrison Nyathis, who were ready to derail the struggle for a few pieces of silver for the benefit of the enemy. Zimbabweans of similar disposition who work with the West against their country’s sovereignty and progress should be reminded that even Simon Mann could not hoodwink the country’s security system despite being backed by those who possess bottomless pockets.
Those who participated in the writing of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA), are consulted ahead of annual sanctions renewals and beat a regular path to Western capitals to hobnob with the Zimbabweans’ enemies should be reminded that the fact that no one seems to be saying anything about their activities does not mean that no one knows about them.
In the rich chiShona language they say, Kuziva zvayo ngwena kukweva jira ichisiya mwene waro. Even those Zimbabweans in refuge and self-exile in different African countries, who are being used by the West against Zimbabweans, should know that the GPS location of their whereabouts are known and they stand warned.
