Read Someone Wishes to Speak to You Online
Authors: Jeremy Mallinson
Someone Wishes to Speak to You (43 page)
Postscript; ‘A Sadness to Behold’
Eastern Lowland Gorillas
Conservateur Adrien Deschryver communicating with the silverback eastern lowland gorilla, Casimir, in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, Zaire, October 1974 (see
Chapter 2
).
© Jeremy Mallinson
Since Mathew Duncan’s field work in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park during the winter of 1973 and 1974, the current situation for the species could not be more serious. For during the mid-1990s there were around 17,000 eastern lowland gorillas in the wild, but today it is estimated that as few as 2,000 of these shy and majestic creatures remain. They have been pushed to the brink of extinction.
In order to combat such a critical situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Fauna & Flora International (FFI) aim to build on initial population surveys by pushing ahead with full and comprehensive follow-up surveys and monitoring of the region that the eastern lowland gorilla is known to inhabit.
FFI’s initiative represents essential work in the first step of implementing the IUCN Conservation Action Plan (CAP) to save the eastern lowland gorilla. FFI has highlighted how vital it is to understanding the surviving population of gorillas, to establish the threats they face and – crucially – the steps that need to be taken to protect them.
The vice-president of FFI, Sir David Attenborough, has recently stated, ‘The Maiko and Kahuzi-Biega National Parks in DRC are home to some of the most endangered species in Africa, including the endangered eastern lowland gorilla. However, as human populations in the region expand, so too does the risk of habitat loss. A participatory form of conservation is giving these communities a means to exist and is helping the eastern lowland gorilla and other wildlife. Time is short and I urge supporters of FFI to quickly back this vital work that is crucial to the survival of the eastern lowland gorilla.’
In order for FFI, through the IUCN’s CAP, to create a safe and secure future for this endangered species, the organisation requires as much public help as possible in support of its efforts to secure the species’ survival for future generations.
Donations can be sent to:
‘FFI – Eastern Lowland Gorilla Appeal’
Fauna & Flora International
4th Floor, Jupiter House,
Station Road
Cambridge CB1 2JD,
United Kingdom
ZANE: Zimbabwe A National Emergency
It had been soon after the newly married Mathew and Jan Duncan had left Rhodesia in October 1979 that as a result of the Lancaster House Conference, which had taken place in London under the chairmanship of Lord Carrington, Lord Soames was installed as governor of what the British Government still referred to as the Colony of Southern Rhodesia.
After a general election (one man, one vote) marred by gross intimidation, Robert Mugabe was declared winner, and on 17 April 1980 Zimbabwe became an independent state with Mugabe as its prime minister and the Reverend Canaan Banana as president. After an initial positive start as an independent self-governing state, the country was soon to witness dramatic ethnic cleansing. ZANU dealt with what they referred to as the ‘Ndebele problem’, which resulted in a genocide involving an estimated 20-25,000 tribal people in rural Matabeleland.
When Robert Mugabe lost a referendum in 2000 which would have given him dictatorial powers, he played his political trump card and commenced the seizure of 4,000 commercial white-owned farms that had provided the economic mainstay of the country. The Zimbabwean economy soon became the fastest collapsing in history with at least four million citizens, both white and black, fleeing the country. Those who remained were at that time condemned to a life of abject poverty, with the country becoming effectively a failed state.
Prompted by the murders of a number of white farmers, in 2003 Mr Tom Benyon OBE founded ZANE, a charity that has helped over 1,800 elderly people, including about 600 ex-servicemen and their wives and widows who receive no pensions or state support. ZANE employs an amazingly brave, skilled and dedicated team of thirty-three workers in Zimbabwe who get to know everyone that they help, as well as always ensuring that donor money goes to those whom they know face the most hardship. For the key strength of the charity is its responsiveness, flexibility and lack of bureaucracy, and operationally ZANE is frugal, focused and effective in delivering aid directly to the most needy.
When the Zimbabwe currency collapsed and switched to US dollars in 2008, it resulted in huge price rises. Essential foods, medicines and utilities now cost about 600 per cent more. As a consequence, ZANE has had to raise substantial funds just to stand still, yet there are still many, many more people awaiting their support. However, the charity prides itself in never having lost any donor money to corrupt officials; it represents the only organisation operating in Zimbabwe which supplies aid to all communities, and is the largest supplier of financial grants to the country’s pensioner community.
Deborah Bronnert CMG, the current (2014) UK Ambassador to Zimbabwe, has recently stated, ‘ZANE’s work in Zimbabwe quite simply provides a lifeline to those who are least able to help themselves. Their committed, inspirational team works hard to ensure that every penny raised goes to where it is needed most.’
Donations in support of ZANE can be sent to:
ZANE
PO Box 451
Witney OX28 9FY
United Kingdom
A Selected Chronology of African Events
With Special Reference to the Evolution of Rhodesia – Zimbabwe
1889
– a) Cecil J. Rhodes secured a Royal Charter from Queen Victoria to establish the British South Africa Company, to explore and exploit the land north of the Limpopo River.
b) The company’s British South Africa Police (BSAP) formed.
1890
–
5 July; the Pioneer Column raised the Union Flag at Fort Salisbury, which had been named after the British prime minister, Lord Salisbury.
1893
– Chief Lobengula’s impis (regiments) were conquered in Matabeleland.
1896
– March; Matabele rebellion broke out which was soon followed by an uprising in Mashonaland.
1897
– a) Dominican nuns opened the first school in Rhodesia.
b) Rail link from Beira to Salisbury started.
1902
– a) 26 March; Cecil Rhodes died (born 5 July 1853).
b) The planned ‘Cape to Cairo’ railway reached Salisbury from Bulawayo, and represented a through link of over 2,000 miles connecting Cape Town with Beira on the east coast of Africa.
1923
– a) 1 October; settlers in Rhodesia were conferred ‘self-government’
by London after white voters chose home rule over union with South Africa.
b) British South Africa Company turned over administrative control of the country to the settler representatives, under the ‘Southern Rhodesia Constitution Letters of Patent’.
c) A sum of £2,000,000 was paid to the Imperial British Government in return for the new government obtaining ‘all the unalienated lands’ in Southern Rhodesia, other than native reserves.
1953 –
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was formed by the British Government, as it had been convinced that such a federation between Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland was the only practical means by which the central African territories could achieve security for the future and ensure the well-being of all their peoples.
1957
– 6 March; Ghana became the first African country to gain independence from European colonial rule. Kwame Nkrumah was soon to establish a one-party dictatorship.
1960
– a) 3 February; Harold Macmillan gave his African ‘Wind of Change’ speech in Cape Town: ‘The wind of change is blowing through this continent and whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact. We must all accept it as a fact, and our national policies must take account of it.’
b) 30 June; the Belgian Government gave independence to the Congo, which caused a sudden influx of refugees into Rhodesia.
c) October; the Monckton Commission suggested the component territories of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland be allowed to secede as a prelude to gaining independence.
1961
– a) February; Rhodesia was administered under a new constitution with a revised electoral formula, together with a Bill of Rights. The publication of the Commons’ White Paper on the Rhodesian Constitution increased the power of the Crown, granting it a veto over all legislation.
b) 1 May; Tanganyika became Tanzania under Julius Nyerere, and immediately adopted Leninism and a one-party state embracing laws suppressing basic human rights.
1962
– a) Summer; Sir Roy Wellensky dissolved the Federal Parliament, leading to the break-up of the federation.
b) December; Rhodesian prime minister, Edgar Whitehead lost the general election to the Rhodesian Front (RF) party.
c) 9 October; Uganda became independent under Milton Obote.
d) Britain agreed the secession of Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia. The fate of Southern Rhodesia left in limbo.
1963
– a) 1 February; Dr Hastings Banda returned home to Nyasaland to lead the country to its independence.
b) August; Ndsbaningi Sithole formed the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU).
c) Internecine fighting broke out in Rhodesia’s African townships.
d) 1 November; a new constitution for Southern Rhodesia came into force.
e) 10 December; Zanzibar gained independence under the constitutional monarchy of the sultan.
f) 12 December; Kenya gained independence under President Jomo Kenyatta.
g) 31 December; Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was dissolved.
1964
– a) 12 January; after an uprising in Zanzibar which overthrew the sultan and his mainly Arab government, Abeid Karume became president and head of state.
b) 13 April; Ian Smith became Rhodesia’s prime minister, charged with securing independence as well as with restoring order in the African townships.
c) Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo jailed for being identified as the primary source of the troubles.
d) Ian Smith insisted that the 1961 constitution must be the basis for any settlement, and not London’s preference for immediate black rule.
e) Labour won the general election in the UK and Harold Wilson said he desired an amicable settlement in Rhodesia, but majority rule was non-negotiable.
f) Rhodesians were warned, should a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) be declared, to expect sanctions, abandonment, citizenship-stripping, non-recognition and expulsion from the Commonwealth.
g) 6 July; Nyasaland gained independence and Dr Hastings Banda became president.
h) 24 October; Northern Rhodesia became Zambia and Kenneth Kaunda became president.
1965
– a) Nine heavily armed Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU) saboteurs, under direction from Lusaka, were arrested in the south-east part of Rhodesia from information supplied by local Africans.
b) 11 November; Ian Smith declared UDI. Governor Humphrey Gibbs went through the motions of dismissing Smith and his Cabinet, which was predictably ignored, and Harold Wilson recalled London’s high commissioner.
c) More than ninety per cent of Rhodesia’s white electorate supported the government, and prepared to take up arms.
d) Harold Wilson had the BBC install a broadcasting post in the neighbouring Bechuanaland Protectorate.
e) In the Congo, General Joseph-Désiré Mobutu forcibly removed President Kasavubu and began to rule by decree.
f) After a coup in the Central African Republic, Jean-Bedel Bokassa came to power. Bokassa, having been fascinated by Napoleon, went on to declare himself ‘Emperor’ and establish one of Africa’s most brutal regimes.
1966
– a) 7 February; twenty-four Moscow-trained ZAPU terrorists were brought before the Salisbury High Court, charged with sabotage and attempting to overthrow the government.
b) 10 April; Britain received UN permission to enforce sanctions and to forcibly intercept vessels suspected of violating sanctions. At the same time, the UN surprisingly declared Rhodesia ‘A threat to world peace’.
c) 30 September; the British Bechuanaland Protectorate gained independence. Sir Seretse Khama became Botswana’s first president.
d) December; Harold Wilson invited Ian Smith to hold ‘talks about talks’ aboard the cruiser HMS
Tiger
off Gibraltar.
1967
– a) 30 May; the oil-rich Nigerian state of Biafra seconded from Nigeria’s ruling junta in Lagos.
b) September; retrieved documents identified African National Congress (ANC) operatives in Rhodesia linking them with South Africa. The news alarmed South African intelligence and they began to deploy police on its borders with Rhodesia.
c) An international incident was narrowly averted off the coast of Beira, when a Royal Navy frigate fired warning shots at a French tanker making for port in violation of the British blockade.
1968
– a) 6 March; three Africans were hanged at Salisbury’s
Central Prison. Two had been convicted of the political murder of an unarmed white farmer.
b) The movement of hundreds of terrorists was detected in the Chewore Wilderness Area in the Zambezi Valley. No previous incursion of this magnitude had taken place. Troops from the Special Air Service (SAS), Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI), and the Rhodesian African Rifles (RAR) were immediately mobilised. The terrorist camp was located, and for the most part successfully liquidated.
c) April; Kenneth Kaunda commenced seizure of white-owned farms and businesses in Zambia.
d) October; renewed settlement efforts between Harold Wilson with four days of talks aboard HMS
Fearless
at Gibraltar, with the British insisting that Rhodesia renounce its current constitution and abandon power.
e) Suspected influx of British intelligence agents in Rhodesia.
1970
– 2 March; Rhodesia became a republic.
1971
– a) January; General Idi Amin toppled the Ugandan government of Milton Obote.
b) 21 November; an agreement was signed between Britain’s foreign secretary, Alec Home, and Ian Smith that included an immediate increase in black representation in Parliament, and the principle of majority rule was enshrined with safeguards ensuring that there could be no legislation which could impede this.
c) Enoch Powell warned that uncontrolled immigration into the UK would lead to conflict and ‘rivers of blood’. Resulting from this statement, he was promptly sacked from government by Britain’s new prime minister, Edward Heath.
1972
– a) 12 March; The Pearce Commission, formed to carry out the test of acceptability of the agreement of both the African and European communities, completed its work. When the report was published in May, it recorded that while the majority of Europeans were in favour of the proposals, most of the African people were not.
b) Fighting by insurgents in Rhodesia intensified when tactics changed, moving the majority of forces from the Zambezi Valley east to Mozambique to give them easier access into Rhodesia.
c) Samora Machel’s Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) welcomed the new combatants, whilst fighting their own liberation war.
d) December; two white-owned farmhouses were attacked by rockets and machine-gun fire in the Centenary district of north-east Rhodesia. The farmhouse was damaged, a farmer and his two children were wounded and a RLI trooper who had gone to their aid was killed by a land mine.
1973
– While war in the east of the country was escalating, tragedy struck at Victoria Falls with the murder of two Canadian girls on holiday, when they were shot by drunken Zambian soldiers firing across the river.
1974
– After South Africa’s President Vorster stopped a shipment of munitions and supplies going to Rhodesia, Ian Smith reluctantly agreed to an immediate ceasefire and to the release of political detainees, including Robert Mugabe. The
quid pro quo
guaranteed by Vorster was to be that Zambia and Mozambique would bring to an end their armed incursions. But this undertaking was never honoured, and the incursions were to continue.
1975
– a) 25 June; Mozambique given independence by Portugal and immediately proclaimed a republic by President Samora Machel’s Marxist regime, with houses and businesses declared state-owned.
b) 11 November; Angola achieved its independence from Portugal and Agostinho Neto (MPLA) became the country’s first Marxist president. Just prior to this, over 300,000 people left Angola after having experienced the devastation of the civil war between UNITPA and MPLA (1961-1975), which claimed millions of lives.
1976
– a) In Mozambique, an estimated 50,000 inmates filled concentration camps. The Roman Catholic Church was driven underground and baptism was banned. The country’s legal code was abolished and replaced by military tribunals.
b) 3 March; the British Government gave £15 million aid to Mozambique, which was followed almost immediately by Samora Machel declaring his country on a war footing with Rhodesia.
c) Mozambique deported an estimated 28,000 Portuguese residents and incarcerated 150 Catholic priests in concentration camps.
d) 27 April; Ian Smith announced the inclusion of black ministers in the Rhodesian Government.
e) 16 June; an estimated 20,000 students staged an uprising in
Soweto, South Africa, for better education. The police responded with tear gas and live bullets, killing 176 rioters.
f) Rhodesia’s Selous Scouts carried out a raid, disguised as FRELIMO, on a camp in central Mozambique, killing an estimated 2000 insurgents.
g) December; a large group of African workers at the Honde Valley Tea Estate in Rhodesia’s Eastern Highlands were brutally shot and bayoneted in front of their families. They were told it was their punishment for working for the white man and that their wages were so low, they were better off dead.
1977
– a) In March, Cuban troops marched into Zaire’s (Congo) Katanga Province, having previously fought UNITA forces in Angola.
b) In Uganda, a British newspaper reported more than 90,000 dead in ongoing genocide with Idi Amin directing and participating personally in the slaughter.
c) 31 August; Ian Smith went back to the polls, once more sweeping all seats for his RF party.
d) The British Government demanded the immediate handover of the Rhodesian security forces to the Patriotic Front, and wanted a British Field Marshall to take command of all ‘security matters’.
e) 23 November; Rhodesia’s Combined Operations undertook two huge strikes in Mozambique. Two hundred soldiers attacked a ZANLA base and two days later, hit a secret terrorist camp, with approximately 3,000 insurgents killed and a few thousand wounded.
1978
– a) 4 March; the 50-50 black/white transitional government was sworn in with Ian Smith becoming joint prime minister with Sithole, Muzorewa and Senator Chief Chirau.
b) 23 June; eight English missionaries and four children were slaughtered at Elim Mission in the Eastern Highlands, close to the Mozambique border.
c) 14 August; Ian Smith held meetings with Kenneth Kaunda, Joshua Nkomo, the Nigerian foreign minister and others in Lusaka. Smith returned to Rhodesia with a feeling of optimism but a few days later, Tanzania’s president, Julius Nyerere, vetoed the budding plan by repeating his ‘absolute prerequisite’ that the Rhodesian Army be disbanded prior to any further talks.
d) In August, Samora Machel admitted holding 20,000 religious
dissenters in camps in Mozambique but refused to bow to pressure for their release.