Judith Todd, the daughter of New Zealand-born former prime minister of Rhodesia Sir Garfield Todd, said nobody could guarantee the cricketers' safety and the main danger was President Robert Mugabe himself.
Most Kiwis assumed the team would be at risk only if the hundreds of thousands of people left homeless in a bulldozing campaign revolted.
No, because terrorized and demoralized people don't riot. If they were going to riot, there would have been no bulldozing because the bulldozer drivers would have been dead.
But Mr Mugabe was "irrational", "consumed with hatred" and backed into a corner, Ms Todd said. New Zealand efforts to get the world community to act against him could make the Black Caps a target.
New laws imposing 20-year prison terms for criticising the Mugabe regime it impossible for the Black Caps to wear black armbands in protest, as some activists had suggested.
PLEASE, guys, wear the bloody armbands...BULLIES are bullies. Don't bow to their demands...
"I am in grave fear for the safety of the cricketers . . . No one in Zimbabwe is safe from President Robert Mugabe.
"If his clinging on to power is challenged, he will do anything to destroy what is opposing him. And if he feels completely frustrated, he will hit out at, for example, citizens of a country whose foreign minister has actually said New Zealand will be pursuing the possibility with the United Nations of bringing Robert Mugabe to account for crimes against humanity."
New Zealand officials at the United Nations are lobbying security council members to act against Mr Mugabe, who is accused of bulldozing 65,000 homes occupied by people who opposed him in the April election.
No comments:
Post a Comment