Britain denied on Friday that its outgoing ambassador snubbed President Robert Mugabe by slipping quietly out of Zimbabwe and failing to observe diplomatic protocol with a farewell visit.

Sir Brian Donnelly left Harare on Sunday after completing a three-year assignment in Harare dominated by diplomatic spats.

Zimbabwe officials had claimed Donnelly was campaigning for Mugabe’s ouster and led covert British operations against the government.

Alison Blackburne, Donnelly’s deputy at the British embassy, said British officials told Zimbabwe’s Foreign Ministry of the ambassador’s planned departure weeks in advance, asking for “the usual courtesies” to be observed.

“The usual courtesies would normally include a valedictory call on the head of state. We received no response,” she said.

She also denied reports in the state-owned Herald newspaper that Donnelly recently traveled to Australia to coordinate support for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and raise funds to bankroll opposition campaigning for parliamentary polls next year.

The Herald also alleged Donnelly instructed opposition lawmakers to boycott a reception on Monday hosted by Mugabe of the eve of his ceremonial opening of Parliament.

Blackburne said Donnelly neither visited Australia during his three-year assignment in Zimbabwe nor held discussions with opposition lawmakers about Monday’s party at Mugabe’s State House.

Opposition lawmakers have routinely boycotted Mugabe’s lavish cocktail parties, accusing him of leading the nation into economic ruin and deepening poverty.

The Herald’s cartoonist showed Donnelly being hidden in a wooden
crate bound for London marked “diplomatic cargo.”

The paper said Donnelly left Harare a bitter and disillusioned man after failing to “do a Milosevic” on Mugabe and bring about “regime change” in Zimbabwe, referring to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic toppled in 2000 by a pro-Western coalition and now facing charges of genocide and war crimes at a United Nations tribunal.

Donnelly came to Zimbabwe from the former Yugoslavia.

In a farewell speech at one of several high-profile diplomatic functions before his departure, Donnelly irked the government by saying the former Yugoslav dictator did not fall until he tried “to steal one election too many, and Yugoslavs themselves decided they had had enough.”

“To all Zimbabweans who want to see political tolerance and economic growth restored in this country, I would simply say: do not give up hope. The tide of democracy will prevail,” Donnelly said.

Britain, the former colonial power, the United States and independent election monitors said Zimbabwe’s 2000 Parliament elections and a 2002 presidential poll narrowly won by Mugabe had been swayed by vote rigging as well as political violence and intimidation blamed mainly on ruling party militants.

Mugabe has vowed to allow only African observers to monitor next year’s parliamentary poll.

Christopher Dell, designated as the next US ambassador, has already become the frequent target of attacks in the state media more than a month before his scheduled arrival in Harare.

Dell told the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month he wanted to see Zimbabwe re-emerge “as a country with a legitimate, democratically led government that respects the rule of law and human rights.”

Dell was evidently out to smear Zimbabwe with his “repugnant sentiments” and work for a change in government, a Herald columnist wrote on Wednesday.

“Zimbabweans should never let him succeed where his predecessor and British cousin have failed,” the columnist wrote. – Sapa-AP

Source: Daily Mail & Guardian
URL: http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=119261/p>