Tony Blair says that he believed Zimbabwe would be better off without Robert Mugabe, but he never asked anyone to 'plan or take part in' military action
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Prime minister Tony Blair with South African deputy President Thabo Mbeki in 1999 Photo: AFP
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Tony Blair
has denied ever planning to intervene in Zimbabwe
and topple Robert Mugabe after Thabo Mbeki, South
Africa’s former president, claimed that he was asked to help
such an operation.
The former Prime Minister took the unusual step of denying Mr Mbeki’s version
of events, recounted in
an interview with al-Jazeera.
When Zimbabwe sank into economic collapse and political repression in 2000,
South Africa and Britain had starkly different views over how to respond. Mr
Mbeki favoured a negotiated settlement; Mr Blair wanted Mr Mugabe to go.
“The problem was, we were speaking from different positions,” remembered Mr
Mbeki. “There were other people saying ‘yes indeed there are political
problems, economic problems, the best way to solve them is regime change. So
Mugabe must go’. This was the difference. So they said ‘Mugabe must go’. But
we said ‘Mugabe is part of the solution to this problem’.”
Mr Mbeki recalled that Lord Guthrie, who was Chief of the Defence Staff
throughout Mr Blair’s first government, said in 2007 that “people were
always trying to get me to look at” the option of toppling Mr Mugabe by
force.
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