Zambia/Zimbabwe Crisis has been brewing for the last 3 years
By Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba
At his inauguration on August 24th 2021,President Hakainde Hichilema invited, among others, members of the Opposition from the region to the ceremony.
He also invited Zimbabwe’s Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader, Nelson Chamisa.
Although this was a matter that could spark diplomatic concerns, it appeared to be a hang-over from Opposition politics and one could forgive President Hichilema for that.
But it was President Hichilema’s action to accept the United States AFRICA COMMAND (AFRICOM) to set up a presence in Zambia that raised serious concerns in Zambia and the region.
AFRICOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense, headquartered at Kelley Barracks, Stuttgart, Germany. It is responsible for U.S. military operations, including fighting regional conflicts and maintaining military relations with 53 African nations.
Both SADC and the African Union(AU) have advised member states NOT to accept the setting up of foreign military barracks, military bases or security offices from Superpowers as this will place and risk Africa to descend into superpowers proxy wars and military conflicts on the oils of Africa.
So global superpowers such as the USA, Russia, China, France and Britain must collaborate with member states through normal bilateral and diplomatic relations for their security cooperation.
Therefore this major and controversial decision in his foreign policy made by President Hichilema was done without consultation or approval of both his Cabinet nor Zambia’s Parliament.
Infact the decision was driven after Anglo-America’s Brenthurst Foundation convened a high-level security meeting-the African Security Dialogue held at First Quantum Mineral’s Royal Zambezi Lodge, which discussed the setting up of AFRICOM in Zambia.
Despite this decision having regional implications, President Hichilema glossed over it like a non-issue.
With DRC, Zambia and Zimbabwe having copper, cobalt, nickel and manganese which metals are critical with multiple applications from superalloys to batteries in computers and smart phones but are now most critically important in the global transition to a green economy due to their significance to batteries technology for electric vehicles and the electric vehicle industry,the to here countries have become the most important global states to guarantee energy security.
This is a sticky issue for Zimbabwe which leans more to China and Russia and suffers economic sanctions imposed by the USA and Britain, while Zambia and DRC signed agreements with the USA to dedicate supply and battery chain industries of copper and cobalt to the USA.
Further, matters between Zambia and Zimbabwe boiled over when President Hichilema, in his capacity as Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security appointed former Vice President, Dr. Nevers Mumba as Head of the SADC Electoral Observation Mission to the 2023 Harmonised Elections in Zimbabwe.
Mumba’s conduct and media utterances raised so much concerns as he appeared clearly a tool of what appeared to be regime change using the upcoming elections, an issue the ruling ZANUPF party has constantly accused the West.
At his inauguration, Mnangagwa invited SADC leaders including President Hichilema especially that he was Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics Defence and Security.
But Mnangagwa also invited former President, Edgar Lungu and leaders of the Patriotic Front and Socialist Party.
Hichilema skipped the invitation but delegated and sent his Foreign Affairs Minister, Hon. Stanley Kakubo.
The recent appeal by President Emerson Mnangagwa to Russia’s Vladimir Putin for security support and other cooperation, especially and in light of the support the USA Government, its allies and institutions are giving Zambia, appears to be legitimate, in the face of geopolitics and security threats playing out in the region.
This recent development has to be handled with diplomatic care as the tensions have been brewing for the last 3 years.
The SADC region is deemed as the most peaceful economic regional grouping with insecurity only occurring in Eastern DRC and recently in Mozambique’s where a terrorist group from IS-Mozambique (IS-M), with links to Daesh (formerly known as Islamic State) is mainly active in Cabo Delgado Province, and has previously carried out attacks in neighbouring districts of Niassa and Nampula Provinces.
Zambia is a beacon of peace in the region, a light and shining example to Africa.
Zambia’s founding President, Dr. Kenneth Kaunda ran a non-aligned foreign policy but in helping achieve liberation for Southern Africa states including Zimbabwe, he relied upon China, USSR and Cuba as the West supported, openly or silently, apartheid South Africa and Ian Smith of Southern Rhodesia.
President Hichilema can therefore learn from Dr. Kaunda who deftly balanced local, regional and global interests without harming Zimbabwe and SADC member states.