AFTER THE RELEASE OF A NEW BRIGHT AND INTERESTING BOOK ABOUT THIS COUNTRY

The title of this book - "The Fate of Zimbabwe "(author-Professor, Doctor of Historical Sciences V. G. Shubin, publication of the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2015. 158 p.), at first glance, seems unusual. Why-in the plural - "destinies" of a distant African country, and not "fate"?

But after reading the work, you are convinced that it is unusual, but very accurate and, of course, correct. This state, with its sometimes very difficult and even dramatic history, has not just one, but several fates - political, military, ethnic, economic and a number of others, and it is extremely difficult to cover them (to varying degrees in depth and detail). Moreover, the country is now generally in a difficult situation -it is one of the poorest in the world, it has one of the lowest life expectancy on the planet - less than 50 years, it is one of the most affected by AIDS and other diseases, it has been shaken for decades by reforms that are not always justified and economically justified.

The author of the book, V. G. Shubin, is probably "specialist No. 1" in this country in Russia; he visited Zimbabwe many times - as an employee of the International Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and later as a scientist, chief researcher at the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences. I met and talked with all the important political figures of this country, including during their visits to Russia. Relations between our two countries have not always been cloudless, including in relatively recent times. And the author chose, in our opinion, a very correct - "slightly detached", but certainly worthy of a scientist, extremely objective position in covering the "fate of Zimbabwe", leaving history to make a final assessment of all aspects of these "destinies".

Approximately half of the work - 72 pages-is devoted to the development of the country before its independence in 1980. The author pays some attention to the colonial period, which began in the XVIII century, and mainly to the second half of the XX century and the first decade and a half of the new century.

Actually, the name of the country itself appeared in the early 1960s, and the actual emergence of "independent Zimbabwe" began to be attributed to the end of 1961, when an influential political force appeared-the Union of the African People of Zimbabwe (ZAPU), although it was still almost 20 years before achieving true independence and gaining "unconditional" statehood. After all, legally the territory of the country remained then a "colonial territory".

All this time passed in an atmosphere of fierce internal political struggle. Two years later, the ZAPU split, and a new party was created-the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), and a confrontation began between supporters of these parties. V. G. Shubin thoroughly analyzes the causes of these events, which, in the end, led to serious clashes. The liberation struggle continued for almost two more decades.

Perhaps the best pages in the first part of the book "The Fate of Zimbabwe" are devoted to the prominent Soviet diplomat V. G. Solodovnikov, who played an outstanding role in establishing friendly relations between the states of South Africa and our country. In general, the relations of the leaders of the progressive forces of the future state of Zimbabwe with the Soviet Union were then quite warm. The head of the ZAPU mentioned above, Joshua Nkomo, visited Moscow several times in the 1970s-V. G. Shubin tells in detail about these trips. Soviet military assistance to the Zimbabwean rebels was significant. Unfortunately, according to the author of the book, in his memoirs published later, "... he [Nkomo] 'forgot' about dozens of Soviet and Cuban soldiers who risked their lives in the ZIPRA (ZAPU military wing) camp " (p.54).

A large chapter - "Lancaster House" - is devoted to the conference-

The Conference on a political settlement in Southern Africa, held in London from September 10 to December 21, 1979. After 47 meetings held over 14 weeks, a ceasefire agreement was signed and a truce was reached in the civil war-torn country, as well as the text of the constitution of independent Zimbabwe was agreed upon and agreements on the transition period were reached (p. 68).

During this period, ZANU leader Robert Mugabe showed great political activity. After returning from emigration, many more people came to the rally with his participation than to the meeting with the head of the ZAPU, J. P. Blavatsky.Nkomo. This largely determined the subsequent events in the country, to which the second part of the book "The Fate of Zimbabwe" is devoted.

In 1980, Mugabe came to power in Zimbabwe, which still holds this post. In February 2016, he turned 92 years old, of which he has been leading the country for 32 years. What happened in the country during this period is described in three chapters of the book. First of all, in chapter 6 - "Independent Zimbabwe: successes and challenges".

The author of the book" The Fate of Zimbabwe "quotes authoritative Western experts who claim that the Americans considered the settlement in Zimbabwe, that is, the coming to power of Mugabe, and not the supposedly "pro-Soviet" Nkomo, "the biggest failure of the Russians in Africa for many years" and that the West in the context of the Cold War showed shortsightedness when " Mugabe continued use violence to achieve political goals in independent Zimbabwe "(pp. 72-73). And this is the truth: There were many acts of violence and artificially incited armed confrontation during the years of Mugabe's rule.

Pressure on the opposition increased. "Joshua Nkomo was forced to flee Zimbabwe via Botswana to London on March 8, 1983, fearing for his life. These concerns were not unfounded: Mugabe compared ZAPA to a cobra, saying: "The only way to effectively end a cobra is to smash its head in." True, two years later, Nkomo returned to the country under security guarantees and held a number of high-level positions until his death in 1999, but his role in this period of the country's history was relatively small (pp. 79-81).

I must say that quite a lot of publications have been published about the years of Mugabe's rule in Russia. He's been charged with a lot of things. And in the most serious economic mistakes that led to huge inflation in the early 2000s, in the brutal reprisals against opponents. Apparently, some of these accusations are true. But we must pay tribute to V. G. Shubin: he adheres to a strictly scientific approach to the period described and does not focus on rumors and speculation, arguing his position with convincing facts and resorting to using only reliable sources.

Whatever one may say about Mugabe, he is a major and respected African politician.

The final chapter of the book is devoted to Zimbabwe's relations with our country, including during Mugabe's rule. "Robert Gabriel Mugabe... He came to Moscow to celebrate the 70th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War, and as a representative of the whole of Africa-the chairman of the African Union, which he took over in early 2015 " (p. 150). "At his meeting with Vladimir Putin on May 10, he discussed both bilateral relations and the development of relations between Russia and the entire African continent" (p.151).

Thus, scientific rigor and absolute objectivity can be attributed to the undoubted advantages of the book "The Fate of Zimbabwe".

As well, however, as a huge amount of "attracted material" - excerpts from domestic, but mostly from foreign (including South Africa) monographs, newspaper and magazine publications, as well as from numerous conversations of the author with public and political figures and - what is especially interesting-ordinary Zimbabweans. This figure is somehow even afraid to give: there are 805 (!) footnotes in the work. And the number of cited publications is approaching two hundred.

It is also valuable that the author does not limit himself to reviewing and analyzing the socio-political situation in Zimbabwe, but rather tells in some detail about events in other countries of Southern Africa, one way or another related to the problems that were solved in Zimbabwe - Angola, South Africa, etc.

The book, by the way, published in a fairly large print run for a scientific publication at the present time, will undoubtedly take its rightful place on the bookshelves of those who are interested in modern Africa. With its release, the distant-even, perhaps, very distant - African country of Zimbabwe has become closer to Russia.

N. I. PETROV, columnist for Asia and Africa Today magazine

Permanent link to this publication: