Patson Chilemba
Veteran politician and diplomat Dr Vernon Mwaanga has saluted Zambia for voting to reprimand Russia, saying the country’s non-alignment is not based in neutrality but on what is right.
Speaking with Daily Revelation over the decision by Zambia to join 140 nations in voting to reprimand Russia for invading Ukraine, which has attracted some heavy condemnation, with some viewing the move as joining the ‘hypocritical west’ in their crusade against Russia when over the years they have specialized in the art of invading other nations, most recently when the United States and Britain invaded Iraq using lies, and intervened in Libya to kill Muamar Gaddafi also on lies, Dr Mwaanga said what Zambia did at the United Nations was the right thing to do.
Dr Mwaanga, the country’s first ambassador to the Soviet Union (which was made up of Russia and other nations before the breakup), said Zambia voted for the resolution to end the war, and not against Russia per see.
“It was the right thing to do, Zambia, it was the right thing to do in order to end the war. Zambia voted to end the war and to introduce a ceasefire and also to encourage dialogue between the parties convened. It was not a vote against Russia per see. I mean the fact that the war was started by Russia is not beyond doubt,” Dr Mwaanga said. “They started the war and look at the international markets, the economic markets around the world lost value, they have crumbled. Look at the price of oil it has gone well beyond $100 per barrel affects every country in the world because everyone uses fuel even here.”
Dr Mwaanga said “we have heard of fuel increase to buttress the increases in oil supply at the international market. So starting a war in 2022 is not the best option when the option of negotiations and the option of dialogue was available.”
“And this is why Zambia voted to ensure that there is a ceasefire, that there is a dialogue, that the hostilities won’t continue. The people of Ukraine, including foreigners who are dying for nothing because they are not part of that,” Dr Mwaanga said. “They went there to study or to do business and now they are fleeing the country as refugees because of the indiscriminate fighting which is going on and the bombing of civilian targets, schools, kindergartens and things like that. So I salute Zambia for voting for peace and I think that was the right thing to do.”
Dr Mwaanga said the countries which abstained, with African accounting for several of them, was neither here no there, saying it was also okay for them that they decided not to take sides as that is something that is allowed in the UN.
“Our non-alignment is not in neutrality. We take positions based on what we think is right and what we think is wrong. That has been the way we have been operating our foreign policy in the past,” he said.
Russia has argued that they invaded Ukraine because NATO failed to guarantee Russian concerns over the continued expansion towards Russian borders, with Ukraine’s position that they want to join that body and would welcome NATO weapons, including nuclear ones. The United States itself threatened to invade Cuba when they learnt that it was hosting Soviet weapons on its soils, citing national security.
But Dr Mwaanga maintained that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was not the solution .
“You cannot act on your own security by waging war on another country. That is against international law. You cannot do that. They should have negotiated this because joining that or joining the European Union and NATO is in their constitution now. It is in the Ukrainian constitution. And it’s a decision which every sovereign country should make. Ukraine is a sovereign country,” Dr Mwaanga said. “I was the first Ambassador of Zambia to the then Soviet Union after independence, are you aware? I went in 1965…Uzbekistan they were all parts of the Soviet Union, they were all one country until the breakup started. Czechoslovakia where I was also accredited broke into two…a number of the country’s which were part of the Warsaw Pact which was led by the Soviet Union, left the Warsaw Pact and they joined the European Union and joined NATO. And it was part of NATO’s expansion. And this should have been negotiated on the table.”
Dr Mwaanga continued.
“Already Russia has invaded Ukraine, annexed Crimea which was part of Ukraine and they have occupied it. That is against the international law, so there have been a series of events. I mean we cannot go to war with any of our neighbors to stop them from doing something we don’t like . That is not permitted in international law. It’s classified as aggression,” Dr Mwaanga argued.
Asked if President Hakainde Hichilema and the government had consulted him before the UN vote, Dr Mwaanga said they did not.
On the illegal wars launched by the US and its allies around the world, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and air strikes in Syria just in this 21st century alone, Dr Mwaanga said most of the world also came together to condemn the actions of western leaders during that time.
He said there were even warrants of arrests against former US president George Bush and former British prime minster Tony Blair which have however not been acted upon.
“Our policy has been consistent in condemning war mongers,” said Dr Mwaanga.
Dr Mwaanga also served as Zambia’s Ambassador to the United Nations and served as minister in the UNIP and MMD administrations of the late Frederick Chiluba, Levy Mwanawasa and Rupiah Banda. He most notably served as Foreign Affairs minister under president Chiluba and president Mwanawasa.
More @ www.dailyrevelationzambia.com
