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dc.contributor.authorCameron, Hazel
dc.date.accessioned2018-10-09T23:46:57Z
dc.date.available2018-10-09T23:46:57Z
dc.date.issued2018
dc.identifier.citationCameron , H 2018 , ' The Matabeleland massacres : Britain's wilful blindness ' , The International History Review , vol. 40 , no. 1 , pp. 1-19 . https://doi.org/10.1080/07075332.2017.1309561en
dc.identifier.issn0707-5332
dc.identifier.otherPURE: 249811438
dc.identifier.otherPURE UUID: 2ce5a21a-7d7a-4b8c-b549-a47cd8c04348
dc.identifier.otherRIS: urn:8F795D5D8338098D80ECA245053F4E34
dc.identifier.otherScopus: 85017268172
dc.identifier.otherWOS: 000429306000001
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10023/16176
dc.description.abstractThis article explores an episode of post-colonial state violence in the newly independent Zimbabwe, namely state-sanctioned atrocities by the army unit known as Fifth Brigade, perpetrated against the Ndebele of Matabeleland and Midlands region. This episode of political and ethnic violence that occurred between 1983 and 1987 is referred to as both the Matabeleland Massacres and Gukurahundi. Members of the British government in Zimbabwe, which included a British Military Advisory Training Team (BMATT) on the ground, were intimately aware of the violence that resulted in the death of between 10,000 and 20,000 people. This article analyses official British and US government communications between the British High Commission, Harare, and the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Cabinet Office, the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Defence, London, as well as between the US Department of State and the US Embassy in Harare. Analysis of the documents dated between January and March 1983 sheds a critical new lens on Gukurahundi, establishing what knowledge was available to the British and US governments about the persistent and relentless atrocities taking place; the diplomatic approaches pursued by both governments in response; and their rationale for same. The hitherto unavailable material presented here was obtained by Freedom of Information requests to various British Government offices and to the US Department of State. Analysis establishes that the British High Commission, Harare, had detailed knowledge of events unfolding in Matabeleland from an early stage of Gukurahundi, yet senior members of BMATT and the British diplomatic team in Harare, in contrast to their US counterparts, were consistent in their efforts to minimise the magnitude of Fifth Brigade atrocities. That the British government chose to adopt a policy of wilful blindness towards the atrocities undoubtedly constituted naked realpolitik.
dc.format.extent19
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.ispartofThe International History Reviewen
dc.rights© 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1080/07075332.2017.1309561en
dc.subjectZimbabween
dc.subjectMugabeen
dc.subjectPost-colonial violenceen
dc.subjectEthnic violenceen
dc.subjectPolitical violenceen
dc.subjectGukurahundien
dc.subjectMatabelelanden
dc.subjectNdebeleen
dc.subjectForeign policyen
dc.subjectJZ International relationsen
dc.subjectT-NDASen
dc.subjectBDCen
dc.subjectR2Cen
dc.subjectSDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutionsen
dc.subject.lccJZen
dc.titleThe Matabeleland massacres : Britain's wilful blindnessen
dc.typeJournal articleen
dc.description.versionPostprinten
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of St Andrews. School of International Relationsen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1080/07075332.2017.1309561
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.date.embargoedUntil2018-10-10


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