E&OE
23 September 2008
Interview – BBC, New York
Subject: Zimbabwe
JOURNALIST: Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe addresses the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, it will be his most high profile speech since signing a power sharing deal with Morgan Tsvangirai. There has been little progress since then and little sign that donors will step in with aid to help Zimbabwe and its crippled economy. Australia is one such country. I asked Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith why his country refused to deliver aid to a nation already facing devastating poverty.
STEPHEN SMITH: We want to adopt a wait and see approach. We think the political compromise being affected is off a very low base, modest progress. Our preference is for Mr Mugabe to retire and allow Tsvangirai and the MDC to form a government. But we’re prepared to look at what’s emerged and, if it affects the will of the Zimbabwean people and makes progress, then we’re prepared to look at sanctions. But for the time being we’ll adopt a wait and see approach
JOURNALIST: When you say you are going to adopt a wait and see approach and demand clear progress, what progress are you talking about specifically?
SMITH: Well we want to see Zimbabwe return to a decent social and economic level. Mr Mugabe inherited a premier economy, a world class agricultural economy, and his regime has seen that go and turn into basket case. So we want to see the economy improve, human rights and rule of law restored, the violence to stop, and genuine participation in democratic and political processes by all concerned in Zimbabwe. We want to see the sorts of real progress that you see from any well developed democratic country.
JOURNALIST: But isn’t it true that improvement in the economy cannot occur unless you give the aid that you’re denying the country?
SMITH: Well, despite our sanctions and opposition to the regime, we have over the years continued to give humanitarian assistance, a lot of that has been food assistance, and we will continue to do so.
JOURNALIST: Mr Smith let me put a quote to you and these are your own comments, you said whenever the UK, US and Australia act and we act in advance of and/or separately from the African states, Mugabe uses this to get a domestic political advantage, so it’s our responsibility that progress has to be made with the South African Development Committee and African states. But isn’t it true that your sanctions policy is at variance with that of SADC and of the AU?
SMITH: Australia’s been at the forefront of sanctions against Zimbabwe. And those sanctions regimes have been mirrored from the EU, the UK and the US.
JOURNALIST: But it’s opposed by the African countries.
SMITH: My point about finding a resolution in Zimbabwe was that the countries best placed to find a resolution were Zimbabwe’s immediate neighbours: South Africa, the Southern African Development Community states and the African Union. And whilst from time to time Australia was critical of what appeared to be slowness on the part of some members of either SADC or the AU to take the matters up to Mr Mugabe, in the end with the assistance of the AU and the Southern African Development Community states we saw a political resolution affected between Mr Tsvangirai and Mr Mugabe. The test now will be does what is reflected on paper, work on the ground.
JOURNALIST: Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith.
[Ends]
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