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take military action to eliminate Robert Mugabe Despite growing dissatisfaction among insiders, the Foreign Office does not believe it is a ‘serious option’ Tony Blairzimbabwe dictator government refuse to give up powernewly declassified documents revealed.
Documents released by the National Archives at Kew reveal Downing Street put pressure on the UK government Ministry of Foreign Affairs A new strategy is being developed to put pressure on Mugabe as the former British colony descends into widespread violence and economic chaos.
A No 10 adviser has warned the Prime Minister that the worsening situation could “really undermine” his ambition to designate 2005 as the “Year of Africa”. Gleneagles G8 Summit.
However, the Foreign Office was forced to admit that there were few effective ways to put more pressure on the veteran ZANU-PF leader, who at 80 years old remains “frustratingly healthy” and determined to stay until he has a successor of his choice.
An options document drafted in July 2004 quickly ruled out the use of military force. A year after Britain joins US-led coalition to oust Iraqi dictator saddam husseinit said that if Britain tried to invade this time, it would have to rely on itself.
“The only candidate to lead such a military option is the United Kingdom. No other country, not even the United States, is willing to do so,” the newspaper said.
“Any British military intervention would result in heavy casualties (including on the British side). There would also be no obvious end state or exit strategy.
“Barring a major humanitarian and political catastrophe – leading to mass violence, massive refugee flows and regional instability – we judge that no African country will agree to any attempt to forcibly overthrow Mugabe.”
Thabo MbekiThe then South African president subsequently claimed that Blair had tried to pressure him to join a military coalition to overthrow Mugabe in the early 2000s.
Blair strongly denies this, but suggestions that military action had been previously considered may explain why the Foreign Office was so quick to make it clear in 2004 that such a move would not be launched.
However, the documents show that Mr Blair was attracted by the advice of outgoing British ambassador Sir Brian Donnelly, who urged Mr Blair to engage with Mugabe to try to persuade him to step down after parliamentary elections in early 2005.
In a farewell cable to Sir Nigel Scheinwald, the prime minister’s foreign policy adviser, he noted Blair’s success in bringing the Libyan dictator to power. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi After years of being treated as a pariah by the West, he gave up weapons of mass destruction.
“Given everything Mugabe has said and done, I can well understand why you and the Prime Minister might shudder at the idea,” he wrote.
“I also recognize that Mugabe’s unique position in our demonology poses some special problems for British public and parliamentary opinion. This is a political appeal.
“All I can say is that you had the courage to do this with Gaddafi, another arrogant and often irrational de facto dictator. The rewards more than justify your efforts.”
Blair seemed to like the idea, writing: “We should find a way to expose the lies and shortcomings of the ZANU-PF before the election, and then we can try to re-engage on the basis of a clear understanding of their implications.”
“I can find a way to make it work, but we need to get the FCO to develop a full strategy.”
But Foreign Office officials in London are deeply skeptical, warning that this approach has been tried and failed before and could “look like a futile U-turn”.
At the same time, they warned that imposing new sanctions on top of international measures already in place would be counterproductive and harmful to the interests of ordinary people. Zimbabwean while allowing Mugabe to persist in his “big lie” that Britain was responsible for all the country’s disasters.
They concluded that Mugabe would not step down without “overwhelming pressure” more than two decades after the liberation struggle against white minority rule brought him to power and that the only realistic course of action was to “hold on” until he chose to step down voluntarily.
Rod Pullen, Sir Brian’s successor, wrote: “He was not angry (as some say), nor did he cling to power simply out of fear (as others said). Instead, he gave the impression of believing he had something to do.”
The cause lasted another 13 years before he was finally deposed in a 2017 coup at the age of 93.