US embassy cable - 03HARARE1979

UNCLAS HARARE 001979 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS 
AF FOR RAYNOR 
IRAQ PD FOR SMITH, PINESS AND ROOKARD 
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER 
LONDON FOR GURNEY 
PARIS FOR NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, KPAO, KMDR, ZI 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION CALL FOR U. N. REFORM; HARARE 
 
 
  1.   Under headline "The U. N. must reform or die" the 
     government-controlled weekly "The Sunday News" (circulation 
     50,000 - 60,000) dedicated its September 28 editorial to 
     call for the restructuring of the United Nations.  The 
     editorial comes hard on the heels of Robert Mugabe's 
     broadside against Western powers at the 58th United Nations 
     General Assembly in New York.  Excerpts follow: 
 
  2.   ". . .The best way to guarantee peace and security in 
     the world today is to strengthen the United nations.  The 
     credibility and legitimacy of the U. N. is undermined when 
     powerful countries disregard Security Council resolutions. 
     If countries of the world do not want future generations to 
     view history as a mere chronicle of the foolishness of 
     mankind, they must empower the U. N. with the clout to 
     censure and discipline warmongering leaders exemplified by 
     Mr. Bush and his cronies. . .After realizing that Iraq is 
     no picnic, the self-righteous U. S. leader, oblivious in 
     his own hypocrisy, has been forced to eat humble pie and is 
     now exhorting the rest of the world to help him assemble a 
     multilateral force in (an) Arab nation .  But he must not 
     get away with murder.  He must answer why he invaded a 
     sovereign country without U. N. approval, killing thousands 
     of Iraqis and needlessly endangering the lives of young 
     American soldiers.  Mr. Bush must also answer why he is 
     compromising global peace and security by bullying Iran, 
     Cuba and North Korea using flimsy allegations that the 
     governments of these countries are violating human rights. 
     . .A humanistic, democratic and pluralistic world has 
     better chances of success than a Manichean one that 
     promotes imperialistic globalization and Western political 
     hegemony.  The continued existence of mankind will, to a 
     great extent, be determined by consensus through diplomacy 
     and dialogue rather than military might. . .There is no 
     alternative; the U. N. must either reform or it will go the 
     way of the dinosaurs." 
 
SULLIVAN