Presidential spokesperson George Charamba said Zimbabwe voted against a United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly measure that seeks to protect vulnerable populations against genocide because of a part of the resolution that deals with the responsibility to protect.
Responsibility to Protect – known as R2P – is an international norm that empowers the international community to act to halt the mass atrocity crimes of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.
Charamba argued that R2P was used to attack Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya, and was almost used by Western powers to invade Zimbabwe during the late Robert Mugabe era.
Pindula News present Charamba’s full Twitter thread below:
Zimbabwe voted nyet (Russian for no) against this omnibus General Assembly Resolution especially because of the part of it to do with the responsibility to protect, R2P.
Those with no sense of recent history or who mistakenly think western global imperial power is benign and benevolent, forget it was precisely this same clause – RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT – which was used to attack Gaddafi’s Libya, and which almost got invoked for use against Zimbabwe had it not been for the double veto by Russia and China!
And Libya tells the world how the West needs the clause to arrogate unto itself the RESPONSIBILITY TO INVADE FOR OIL, LAND, MINERALS and other INTERESTS using spurious grounds and securing a veneer of UN legality.
Today, Gaddafi is dead; Libya continues to die while the West retains the PREROGATIVE TO DO WAR WHILE STEALING LIBYAN OIL MIDST THAT WAR IT STARTED AND CONTINUES TO FUND AND FAN!
Often what is termed GENOCIDE is not that; rather, it neatly fits within Western extra-territorial goals. This is why what Israel does against the Palestinians falls neither under GENOCIDE or RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT, even though we all know it is GENOCIDAL DEFINITION ITSELF crying out for an American-led RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT!!!
Daily America, United Kingdom oppose even the mildest resolution in defence of the Palestinian people yet are keen to indict China on Chinese citizens of Moslem faith, and Venezuelans of Venezuela!
In the 19th Century, the mantra was encapsulated in the THREE Cs: CHRISTIANIZE, CIVILIZE and COLONIZE in that omnibus order.
We all know what happened before the Century of those laudable Cs ran out!! The RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT citizenry of ANY NATIONALITY is that of the NATION-STATE of that polity.
It is a moot point to ask the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA to accept a joint Russia-Chinese-led global intervention on its territory to exercise and enforce responsibility to protect BLACKS in AMERICA who are VICTIMS OF DAILY GENOCIDAL ATTACK.
Zimbabwe’s foreign policy options at United Nations are clear and grounded in its own history, experience, interests, principles and understanding of world affairs. Ndatenda!!!!
However, some observers said that the “No” vote by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime was a frantic attempt to avert a consequential reckoning with its past atrocities.
These atrocities include the killing of more than 20 000 people between 1983 and 1987, mostly unarmed civilians from the minority Ndebele ethnic group during Gukurahundi.