US embassy cable - 02HARARE1091

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Identifier:	02HARARE1091
Wikileaks:	View 02HARARE1091 at Wikileaks.org
Origin:	Embassy Harare
Created:	2002-05-07 08:49:00
Classification:	UNCLASSIFIED
Tags:	KPAO ZI
Redacted:	This cable was not redacted by Wikileaks.

UNCLAS HARARE 001091 
 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/PD FOR COX AND ROBERTSON, AF/S FOR KRAFT AND 
SCHLACHTER, AF/RA FOR DIPALMA, INT/R/MR, NSC FOR 
JENDAYI FRAZER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, ZI 
SUBJECT:  INDEPENDENT DAILY NEWS CRITICIZES DESPOTS 
 
 
1.   Under headline "Rastiraka: Another old man 
   resisting change" the independent daily "The Daily 
   News" dedicated its May 2 editorial to criticizing 
   despotic African leaders, especially Didier Rastiraka 
   of Madagascar and Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe.  Excerpts: 
 
2.   "Didier Rastiraka if Madagascar is a typical 
   caricature of an African leader: he refuses to accept 
   change and seem to believe that without him at the helm 
   Madagascar would sink without trace into the Indian 
   Ocean. . .  He and other leaders cling to the 
   outrageous notion that African democracy is not 
   necessarily compatible with the Western variety.  They 
   seem to suggest African democracy must include a strong 
   dash of totalitarianism to function effectively. . . 
   Africa is the poorest continent primarily because the 
   freedom in which spectacular economic development and 
   unfettered political activity can thrive does not exist 
   in many African countries.  The rulers, most of them 
   old men of the ilk of Madagascar's Didier Rastiraka and 
   our own Mugabe, believe their destiny is to rule their 
   countries until they drop dead." 
 
SULLIVAN