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'America is not above the law'
14/05/2008 17:09 - (SA)
Caroline Drees
Harare - A state-run paper accused Western ambassadors on Wednesday of demonising Zimbabwe's government and "cooking up" evidence of political violence to help unseat President Robert Mugabe after almost 30 years in power.
US ambassador James McGee and diplomats from Britain, the European Union, Japan, the Netherlands and Tanzania were questioned for about 45 minutes at a police checkpoint outside the capital Harare on Tuesday.
They were also held up at a rural hospital where they visited victims of post-election violence and were questioned by officials about their reasons for being there. The US condemned Zimbabwe's "harassment" of the diplomats.
Mugabe's spokesperson George Charamba told the state-run Herald newspaper the incident was of serious concern.
Demonise the government
The Herald accused the envoys of "circumventing diplomatic protocol" and going on a "spirited campaign to demonise the government ahead of the presidential election run-off".
"The presence of several journalists from private-owned media houses in his (McGee's) convoy appeared to confirm suspicions that the 'fact-finding missions' have largely been stage-managed to come up with 'cooked up evidence' of political violence" in support of the opposition, the Herald said.
"Not above the law"
The newspaper, which tends to reflect official thinking, said the diplomats had breached a rule that prohibited them from travelling more than 40km outside Harare without prior clearance from the Foreign Ministry.
"In Zimbabwe, even mighty America is not above the law of the land. We have rules and regulations," Charamba said.
The US, a major donor of aid to Zimbabwe, has been a strong critic of Mugabe, accusing him of harassing and attacking the opposition.
State of emergency
In a separate article in the Herald, the head of a pro-government lawyers' group urged it to consider imposing a state of emergency to quell the violence.
"Literally, Zimbabwe is at war with foreign elements using local puppets," said Martin Dinha, the head of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Justice. "Western countries are known to fuel violence, civil wars and strife in Africa and the Middle East. Zimbabwe must not fall into the trap of the evil nations' agenda."
Tension in Zimbabwe is rising ahead of the run-off, which Tsvangirai said he would contest even though he believes he won the vote outright.
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