US embassy cable - 02HARARE1042

C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 001042 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JFRAZER 
LONDON FOR CGURNEY 
PARIS FOR CNEARY 
NAIROBI FOR TPFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/30/2012 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, EAGR, ASEC, ZI, ZA 
SUBJECT: ZAMBIAN PRESIDENT MAKES STATE VISIT TO ZIMBABWE 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Todd Faulk for reasons 1.5 (b) 
and (d) 
 
1.  (C) Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa made a state visit 
to Zimbabwe April 25-28 as the guest of honor at Zimbabwe's 
International Trade Fair, an occasion he used in an apparent 
attempt to bolster President Mugabe's image at home and 
abroad.  The first head of state to visit Zimbabwe since the 
flawed presidential election of March 9-11, Mwanawasa took 
the opportunity to wax eloquent about Zambian-Zimbabwean 
relations and the bright future of regional trade in southern 
Africa.  During a tour of a Masvingo maize-growing project on 
April 25 (see paragraph 2), the Zambian President 
congratulated Zimbabweans' on their "choice" of Mugabe as 
president.  Mwanawasa proclaimed the election free and fair, 
noted that peace and harmony had been restored, and urged 
Zimbabweans to bury their political differences -- as 
Zambians had done after their election -- to address the 
problem of growing hunger and economic decline.  In an April 
26 press statement, the opposition Movement for Democratic 
Change (MDC) criticized Mwanawasa for endorsing Mugabe's win 
and expressed "shock" and "dismay" that Mwanawasa was under 
the impression that peace and harmony had returned to 
Zimbabwe when MDC members continue to die at the hands of 
ruling party supporters. 
 
2.  (C) Mwanawasa visited the Masvingo lowveldt, where the 
large, irrigated sugar cane plantations are located, to view 
the Agriculture Ministry's most recent cock-eyed scheme to 
alleviate food shortages.  This scheme has the GOZ 
"borrowing" acreage from Anglo-American's Triangle Sugar 
Estate and the Hippo Valley estate next door to plant a crop 
of "winter maize".  The effort, we are told, ignores basic 
tenets of agriculture.  For example, winter frost is 
prevalent in the area, which kills early maize but does not 
affect the hardier sugar cane.  In addition, sugar cane 
fields harbor an insect called the black maize beetle, which 
only consumes very young sugar cane when it is controlled. 
The bug will have a feast on the unexpected maize and 
drastically reduce yields, perhaps even to zero.  Maize needs 
fairly high soil moisture content to germinate.  Cane fields 
are sandy (cane is deep-rooted and the irrigation water soaks 
through the sandy upper level to be trapped by the heavier 
soil below, thereby reducing water usage rates), and such 
soils usually do not retain moisture well enough for good 
germination to occur.  If one irrigates too much, the seeds 
rot; too little, and no baby corn plants.  Agronomists and 
others in agriculture deride the effort, labeling it as a 
waste of precious resources and ill-fated from the start. 
 
3.  (C) On April 26, Mwanawasa officially opened the 43rd 
annual Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in Bulawayo. 
Despite announcements from Mwanawasa and Mugabe that improved 
cross-border trade is just around the corner, the Trade Fair 
opened with the lowest level of exhibitor participation since 
independence in 1980.  (Note: The U.S. did not display and 
have an official information booth at the fair for the first 
time in 21 years.  End note.)  Zimbabwe's regressive economic 
policies undoubtedly scared away most Western participants, 
leaving primarily local and regional companies to proffer 
their limited wares.  Mwanawasa tried to make the most of 
things by describing small- to medium-sized businesses as the 
hope for Zimbabwe's economic development. 
 
4.  (C) Comment: Mwanawasa, as the junior leader in the SADC 
region, was probably delighted to be invited by Mugabe, the 
most senior.  We certainly would not have expected Mwanawasa 
to be anything other than gracious and supportive in his 
visit, as he angles for acceptance in the local presidential 
"club," but his wholesale endorsement of Mugabe, and by 
extension the disaster engulfing Zimbabwe, went several steps 
too far.  Mugabe, for his part, took advantage of the Zambian 
leader's junior status -- by stage-managing a state visit so 
soon after the election -- to help underscore for Zimbabweans 
and other regional leaders his claim to be the legitimate 
president of Zimbabwe.  Mugabe undoubtedly took comfort in 
the fact that a foreign leader was willing to visit Zimbabwe 
to open the trade fair, a long-standing tradition.  We 
understand that several other heads of state were "otherwise 
occupied" and did not respond to earlier Mugabe feelers.  It 
will be interesting to observe whether the other regional, 
wizened leaders will be willing to accept Mugabe's outreach 
as his badly tainted election recedes into the past.  End 
comment. 
 
SULLIVAN