MUGABE: PREDATOR IN CHIEF
Introduction

AFTER 19 years of brutal Marxist misrule, directionless tyranny, graft and corruption of a very high order, Zimbabawe - our most important neighbour - appears at last ready to get shot of Robert Mugabe author of all its problems. It could be weeks, maybe months, but this Afro-Marxist, whose shameless indifference to the welfare of his own people and implacable greed make even the late Sese Seko Mobuto seem human, is definitely on his way out. Most immediate threat to his rule is his costly, bloody and immensely unpopular military expedition to shore up fellow Marxist despot, Laurent Kabila, in the Congo: this primarily to protect billion-dollar business bonanza deals his generals, his relatives and his elitist cronies have cut with the heavily obligated Kabila.

That intrusion is now undermining the stability of all southern, central and even north Africa. With the Congo's vast size, extraordinary mineral wealth and geographical location, it threatens to spark a long nightmare of instability in a region of impoverished nations, not one of which can possibly afford it. It has already sucked Rwanda, Uganda, Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Chad and the Sudan into its complex and deadly web. Because of events in the Congo, Africa threatens to slide into a conflict more far-reaching than anything seen this century: not only a series of wars that could have the entire continent in flames, but which could potentially also engulf Western nations hoping to prevent a continental collapse.

Mugabe, who maintains the largest foreign contingent fighting in support of Kabila, is seen as the source of much of this trouble.

My inquiries overseas indicate that Western states want him out; that those who helped put him there see him as an immense disappointment; that they believe the sooner he is removed from all forms of power, the better for all concerned. Even Lord Carrington, who did so much to put him there, apparently now subscribes to this.

Should Mugabe be displaced, with or without Western connivance, then hopefully we will see a new and improved balance of power in this region. Deprived of his main ally, Kabila would certainly have to start negotiating with the rebel forces mounted against him. Conceivably, too, it could signal the end of catastrophic Marxist dictators imposed on southern Africa with collusion of the US State Department from 1975 onwards.

Certainly, if the US wishes to retain control of the critical Indian Ocean Rim, spreading from Australasia through to Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India and to Africa, then it needs to help stabilise Africa: plus access to something a lot more effective than its naval support base on the tiny Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. Commercially, Western industrial states need access to Africa's incredibly rich mineral resources. Since the end of the Cold War, it has been fashionable to dismiss these as of little consequence. That stance is now under review. Now we deal explicitly with the Zimbabwean crisis, especially its Congo involvement.

Please read on.