We are indeed our brother’s keeper!

doubt that the late President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah is one of the greatest statesmen that Africa has ever produced.
This is why Africa cannot help remembering him.

It baffles the mind to see that the ideals that he fought and stood for are now being relegated into the historical dustbin: all in the name of ushering in “change”, if not betrayal.
One would have thought, the blood that was in Moise Tshombe of Zaire and Morrison Nyathi in the then Rhodesia went with them when they passed on but then this is a fallacy.
This spirit is living on, the spirit of betrayal and it has become a tragedy that Africa is experiencing.
The tragedy that the continent is facing is that there are some of our own black brothers and sisters who have got an insatiable desire to propel or drive imperialist domination on all that is

African-(African soil, riches, symbols of African independence and pride).
What the Shakesperian Brutus did to Caesar, the Libyan ambassador, Mr Taher Elmegrahi has done to Muammar Gaddaffi, the now deposed ruler of the Libyan people.
Before unpacking the Tshombe, Nyati and Elmegrahi syndrome, it must be pointed out that Nkrumah, one of the founding fathers of the OAU as well as the other pan-Africanists stood for solidarity, unity and peace of African states and its people.

They unwaveringly defended African sovereignty. They stood firmly for the continent’s total emancipation from colonial bondage. These men had Africa at heart. The crime that Gaddaffi committed, the crime that President Gbagbo and other like-minded pan-Africanists have also been accused of, is that of defending Africa’s political and economic space.
This is why the North is ‘demanding a pound of their flesh,’ the reason why the West wants to sacrifice these pan-Africanists on the imperial altar, the reason also why their fellow black brothers and sisters have betrayed them in broad daylight under the guise of democracy and human rights.

Amilcar Cabral correctly observed that “Nkrumah was killed by the cancer of betrayal, which we must tear out by the roots in Africa, if we really want to liquidate imperialist domination definitively on this continent.” The struggle continues and African leaders must not relent.
The Zimbabwe Government must therefore be commended for giving the Libyan ambassador and his staff a 72-hour ultimatum and declaring them persona non grata.
The Foreign affairs minister, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi was correct in saying that the Libyan ambassadors’ actions contravened international law and protocols governing diplomatic relations.

Mr Elmegrahi was not supposed to have burnt the Libyan Jamahiriya’s national flag or Muammah Gaddaffi’s portrait. It must be understood that an ambassador is an endorsed personal representative from one head of state to another.
An official sent to ‘lie’ for his country, an administrator sent to represent and further his country’s interests. As such it is mandatory for any diplomat to present his/her credentials in person to the head of state of the host nation.

It does not need a rocket scientist to tell us that an ambassador being an official representative of his/her head of state must be loyal. The duties of a diplomat are clearly laid out in the Vienna Convention of 1961. The bag he carries is his/her president’s, the space he occupies in that host country, is his/her president’s.
His highest loyalty must therefore be that of protecting his country’s foreign policy objectives. He must be visionary, prudent and not lose sight of his country’s interests. His duty is to implement executive instructions faithfully irrespective of his personal assessments of wisdom of these instructions.

What happens then to an ambassador or member of the diplomatic staff who acts contrary to the laid down rules? If a diplomat goes against the policy of a government that sent him, then he/she has to resign. The Libyan ambassador failed to understand the needs and interests of Libya.
He also failed to understand the needs and interests of Zimbabwe as the host country, the spirit of pan-Africanism. He totally failed to understand the position that Sadc as well as most of the African Union members had, on the illegitimate invasion of Libya by the Northern aggressors.

President Zuma of South Africa was at pains both at home and in Sadc in explaining why he had endorsed resolution 1973 on Libya. The rape of Libya by the NATO forces was totally opposed by most of the AU. The Libyan ambassador failed to comprehend these very simple things.
He advanced his own selfish interests at the expense of the interests of the state he was supposed to represent. The National Transitional Council still needs to gain legitimacy from the Libyan people and that will take time before it happens. In international law discourse the TNC is yet to be a de facto government before it finally turns into a de jure establishment.

A de facto regime should be in a position to bring about peace, stability and normalcy in a political system. The legislature, judiciary and executive should be functional despite the system being Defacto. When Ian Smith declared his Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965, the regime was de facto in that though not recognised by other states its government was able to maintain peace and order in the then Rhodesia.
After the coup in Pakistan, Former President Musharaff’s regime was a Defacto one, until years later it was finally recognised as a de jure government. This legitimisation of the Musharaff regime had quite a lot to do with American and European interests than anything else.

Mr Elmegrahi miscalculated his move. The TNC is yet to bring peace and order in Libya. It still has the task of establishing a legislature, judiciary and executive and the whole public and private sectors also have to operate normally before it can become a truly De facto regime.
Thomas Hobbes the 17th century English philosopher was right when he said that, man is egocentric and selfish. That is the reason why the Libyan ambassador ‘stabbed Gaddaffi in the back.’
Not only did he betray Gaddaffi, but also Kwame Nkrumah, Sekou Toure, Julius Nyerere and all other pan-Africanists who fought or are fighting against all forms of neo-colonialism.

This is why Zimbabwe does not recognise the National Transitional Council. It explains why the Foreign Affairs Secretary, Ambassador Joey Bimha, conveyed the message that the Government of Zimbabwe regards the statements and activities of the ambassador and staff of the embassy of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya as inconsistent with their status as diplomatic agents of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.
Furthermore both the actions and the activities are unacceptable to the government of the republic of Zimbabwe, which has diplomatic ties with the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.

The reality is that the NTC has been installed by NATO and is an illegitimate government according to the dictates of international law and the statutes of the AU. The NTC still lacks legitimacy from within Libya itself.
No regime can survive without significant support from some groups in that state, whose interests will always have to be considered.
Political decision-makers the world over always wish to legitimise their power. Although it is possible to exercise power without legitimacy as the TNC is doing, such a situation is unstable because rules without legitimacy are likely to rely more on coercion.

Most governments in the international system, be they de facto or de jure, always seek to replace their power with legitimacy. This makes the task of governing much easier than having to rely entirely on punishments and coercion.
The NTC is yet to be legitimised by the majority of the Libyan people. The 13 African countries that have recognised the NTC have sold out. They have done so merely to please their colonial masters

who are busy sharing the spoils of the Libyan war.
Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara was correct to comment that Zimbabwe will not have an ambassador who switches to a regime that the country has not recognised. “… the ambassador has no locus standi to burn the flag of the old regime and images of Gaddafi.”

The mistake that the ambassador made was that of putting the cart before the horse. What happens in the diplomatic circles is that when a head of state is changed the ambassador will be reaccredited, that means our ‘dear’ ambassador should have waited and seen whether the Zimbabwean government would recognise the new incumbents.
Harold Nicolson opined that there are certain indispensable qualities for successful and effective diplomats. These are precision, patience, modesty and loyalty inter-alia. Precision has to do with the

ambassador’s intellectual capacity.
He must have the ability to express his views and boldly interpret and represent his country’s interests. He must be professional and loyal to his government and to some extent the host country.
An ambassador and his ambassadorial staff must understand the needs and interests of the host country not losing sight of their own country’s interests. Our Zimbabwean ambassador to Senegal,

Trudy Stevenson, must be commended for informing Zimbabweans on her duties in Dakar.
It is the duty of ambassadors to make sure that Zimbabwe’s interests are represented. This is why she had a series of meetings with the Senegalese government officials, civil society and some

international organisations for the purpose of strengthening ties for the benefit of Zimbabweans.

It is only pseudo-diplomats who rubbish their own home governments while on foreign missions. This entails that such diplomats or ambassadors will be misusing taxpayers money as they will be betraying not only themselves but their governments and their own people.
Ambassadors therefore are not representatives of political parties abroad, but representatives of the head of state and government. African ambassadors should be “symbols of African liberation and dignity.”
Amilcar Cabral brilliantly captured this and warned: “Those who spit at the sky will soil their face,” deeper forms of intra-African cooperation must be encouraged and not BETRAYAL. Patrice Lumumba, Kwame Nkrumah, Hebert Chitepo, Steve Biko etc are surely turning in their graves. An enduring spirit of pax Africana must be allowed to flourish.
Africans must be their own liberators. African leaders must pick up the mantle and continue working for the ideals that the founding fathers of the OAU now the AU wanted to achieve. They must be wary of their smooth tongued African brothers who are like the biblical Judas Iscariot.

l Darlington Mahuku & Bowden Mbanje are lecturers in International Relations, and Peace and Governance at Bindura University of Science Education.