Our minister Haimbe, kindly reply to M’membe over Zambia’s alleged support for Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara
By Austin Mbozi
I suggest that our able foreign affairs minister Mulambo Haimbe fully replies to opposition leader comrade Fred M’membe’s allegation that Zambia is supporting Morocco’s ‘invasion’ of Western Sahara just because President Hakainde Hichilema (HH) is an American puppet (Zambian Observer, 2 June, 2023).
I already showed in my last two Monday articles that HH is not a Western puppet. My point today is that our foreign ministry must explain more about reasons behind our foreign policy positions. First, any president accused of being a puppet risks being a target of armed rebels like those that have taken over Western Africa in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger who hide their irresponsible behaviour in the name of removing puppets. Western Sahara is near that region, and also seeks support. Let us remember that the current Zambia-Zimbabwe diplomatic rift is also coming from Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF lie that HH is a Western puppet, as evidenced when its President Emerson Mnagagwa told Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Second, our foreign ministry’s explanations will help Zambian diplomats to take clear positions at international fora. Third, it helps us, pro-UPND writers, to elaborate government positions without risking contradicting our own government. As party members we are bound by collective responsibility. And collective responsibility requires that every member has detailed reasons justifying the agreed upon position, so that every member can defend and coherently elaborate that collectively agreed upon position.
So far, our diplomats and we writers have faced problems on how to defend Zambia’s diplomatic positions. In March 2022, Zambia joined the majority vote in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to ‘reprimand’ Russia for invading Ukraine. I supported this in my two articles entitled, ‘Zwa mu Ukraine Putin, Nanga NATO niya anyoko’ (The Mast, part one on 18th April 2022 and part two on 25 April 2022). Only to be discouraged later when the then foreign affairs minister Stanley Kakubo said, ‘we are not against Russia. We are only against the war’. I wondered, ‘Umm, boss! If you are a judge, are you going to jail the stealing but not the thief? Let us make pragmatic statements! If a world war breaks out, Zambian soldiers will have to be ordered by our commanders to shoot at either the Russian or Ukrainian enemy. They won’t be ordered to shoot the war!’
Another case. In July-August 2023, President HH was invited by, and met Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. President HH does not like meddling in international disputes. So, he mainly appreciated Zambia’s religious heritage from Israel and potential agro-tech mutual benefits. But the escalating Israeli-Palestinian war, with the US increasing its military aid to Israeli, puts Zambia in a dilemma. In late September 2024, many UNGA delegates walked out in protest against Netanyahu’s address.
Dear reader of this article, suppose you were Zambia’s representative in the UNGA that day? If you walked out, how would you have known whether President HH would be displeased that you are messing the good relationship established with Netanyahu during his visit? If you stayed, how would you know that he would be displeased that you have abandoned the UNGA members with whom Zambia voted against Russia?
Western Sahrawis are indigenous. Their ancestor never created centralised government because of conquests and a nomadic lifestyle. Because of this, some are in Morocco while some Moroccan tribes are in Western Sahara. Spain claimed their territory at the Berlin Conference in 1884, and began ruling it as a protectorate in 1912 while France claimed Morocco, making it its protectorate. In 1956, both Spain and France began the process of leaving these ‘protectorates’. So, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) (now African Union) admitted Western Sahara as an independent nation. But Morocco annexed it in 1975 and left the OAU. Morocco also rejected the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling against its occupation of Western Sahara.
Then the conflict went global. During the border war between Morocco and Algeria, Algeria was receiving Russian support while Morocco received American support. Inspired by Algerians’ war-victory against French colonialism with the help of Russia, Western Sahrawis also mobilised to fight off the Moroccans. The 1991 UN-brokered ceasefire promised a referendum for Western Sahara. But Morocco is frustrating this referendum.
Meanwhile, because America needs Arab support in its support for Israel, it persuades Morocco to also support Israel. Morocco is even getting natural gas from Western Sahara and selling it to Isreal.
The wide reader comrade M’membe is aware of all this. This is what he interprets as President HH being an American puppet. He thinks US is recruiting HH to support Morocco in fighting both Palestine and Russia.
But international matters are complex. So, we as Zambians must debate them thoroughly within our parties before we form governments. Even comrade M’membe himself has problems remaining consistent. For instance, he supports Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to ‘prevent an armed hostile neighbour’. Yet, he opposes Isreal’s invasion of Palestine for the same security reasons. He supports the independence of Western Sahara, yet he rejects the independence of Barotseland.
Even Kenneth Kaunda did not consistently follow his non-alignment. He agreed with OAU ban on secessions, yet he and Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere supported the 1966 secession of Biafra from Nigeria. My fellow Mast columnist Professor Hamalengwa, did you not tell us in your book, ‘Thoughts Are Free’ that it took you as UNZA students to force Kaunda to stop supporting American-backed UNITA Rebels in Angola so that he supports Russian-backed MPLA?
So, minister Haimbe, Zambia has the right to take any diplomatic position, even against the OAU/AU and ICJ in the case of Western Sahara. What we need are detailed reasons so that we rally behind you without Zambia being accused of merely obeying American orders.
The author, a UNZA lecturer, specialises in global justice and ethnic grievances. Phone: 0978-741920. Email: austin.mbozi2017@gmail.com