IN what could pan out to be a reincarnation of the diabolical Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (Zidera), the US is mulling enacting legislation that will impose stiff penalties on African countries that will be deemed diplomatically sympathetic to the Russian Federation.
The latest piece of legislation by the US, known as the
“Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act”, gives Congress power to
probe African countries that are deemed to be leaning towards Russia and
proposes to punish sovereign African states for associating with Moscow.
Ironically, there are no such limitations on the US on the
African continent where it brazenly interferes in African countries’ domestic
affairs through the unilateral imposition of sanctions that have been
strangling nations like Zimbabwe for over two decades now, retarding economic
growth and general development.
According to the draft Bill, the US Congress will have a
carte blanche to “regularly assess the scale and scope of the Russian
Federation’s influence and activities in Africa that undermine US objectives
and interests, and determine how to address and counter such influence and
activities effectively, including through appropriate United States foreign
assistance programmes; and to hold accountable the Russian Federation and
African governments and their officials who are complicit in aiding such malign
influence and activities”.
Furthermore, the Bill, which analysts have described as
“condescending”, also seeks to monitor deals between African countries and
Russian companies in the exploitation of natural resources and extractive
industries, and also Russia’s military activities on the continent.
The Bill that comes in the wake of the six-week
Russian/Ukraine conflict where African countries have steadfastly refused to
take sides and condemn Russia, is regarded by political observers as a carrot
and stick approach to enslave African countries by the US when it comes to voting
on the United Nations.
It was sponsored by Republican Gregory Weldon Meeks who
chairs the House Committee on Foreign Relations and was first put to a vote in
the US Senate on April 27 where 415 senators voted in favour and nine against.
The Bill is yet to be signed into law.
Zanu PF director of information and publicity Cde Tafadzwa
Mugwadi said Zanu PF will never pander to the dictates of a foreign country,
especially imperialistic laws from America.
“Zimbabwe under Zanu PF is sure never to toe that line.
African states must stand together and be counted against those seeking to
define African foreign relations according to US imperialist motives.
Existentially and foundationally, Zanu PF’s ideological orientation and
President ED Mnangagwa’s uncompromising revolutionary standpoint are
anti-foreign interference.
“We do not have a puppet government in Zimbabwe. We are not
beholden to, nor do we define our foreign policy using a US template. Be
reminded further that Zimbabwe is under debilitating illegal sanctions from the
US, so besides that, we will reject and refuse to toe the US line, this is not
breaking news in Zimbabwe.
“Predictably, there will be gnashing of teeth in those
countries which are beholden to the United States through US-Africom. It will
be, however, a sad day in history if any single African country was going to
bow down before this US proposal.
“Great African statesmen and the continent’s founding
fathers will be turning in their graves if that were to happen. Imagine all our
52 nations being bound by a US law and its legal system. We shall see real and
genuine African leaders and African states while puppets will be exposed,” said
Cde Mugwadi.
The US law is being mooted ahead of the October
Russia-Africa Summit that is scheduled to take place in St Petersburg under the
theme, “For peace, security and development” and is viewed by analysts as a
deterrent measure by the US to stop African countries from defining their
destiny unencumbered by threats of sanctions.
Academic and researcher Mr Alex Munyonga said the
“Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act is nothing but a
presentation of Africa as America’s toy and inferior other” in the geopolitics.
“The drive is to sanction any African country that does
business with Russia. A telescopic look into such an endeavour unravels the
reincarnation of Zidera but this time not targeted at Zimbabwe alone but Africa
as a whole. Africa is being reduced to a fighting battlefield for Euro-American
conflicts, a second-class continent. This is a fresh and camouflaged scramble
for Africa, post-colonial colonisation of Africa.
“For the past two decades, Zimbabwe has been a victim of
unjustified bullying from the US and her allies, with Zidera having been passed
to punish the country after it had empowered its citizens through land
redistribution.
“The success of the Zimbabwean Fast Track Land Reform
programme could have catalysed African zeal to possess and own their own
resources. Zidera was a hidden and hostile protectionist design meant to
discourage any other African country from repossessing and owning their
resources.
“The same shenanigans are being displayed in the wake of
the renewed, ‘Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act’. America is
aware that Russia can evade American sanctions by trading with African
countries. America is aware that vibrant trade between Africa and Russia has
the potential of destabilising Euro-American economies,” said Mr Munyonga.
Making their intentions bare, US congressman Michael
McCaul, who co-sponsored the Bill, said: “We must make every state choose
between doing business with the free world or with the war criminal”, making an
American standpoint the world’s view.
However, political analyst Mr Collin Mharadzano said such
machinations by the US will not find resonance in a liberated world such as
Zimbabwe.
“The United States’ predatory behaviour as evidenced by its
intentions to enact the Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act is
ample testimony of its superior complex mentality where it perceives itself as
the only real deal in world affairs. It is indeed contemptuous of other human
species. It perceives itself as the Alpha and Omega of all activities political
in the world.
“These are clear sanctions akin to Zidera which it
unlawfully enacted to destabilise the political and economic affairs of a
sovereign country. Russia is now its target hence the need for all nations to
resist such an evil act which will hurt the ordinary people,” said Mr
Mharadzano.
Unlike some countries which believe in unilateralism,
Zimbabwe’s foreign policy is couched in engagement with all nations and the
promotion of dialogue in resolving conflicts. Herald
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