US embassy cable - 02HARARE1913

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 001913 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/PD, AF/S, AF/RA 
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER 
LONDON FOR GURNEY 
PARIS FOR NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, KPAO, KMDR, ZI 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REPORT KANSTEINER/NATSIOS BRIEFING; 
HARARE 
 
 
  1.   The transcript of a press briefing by USAID 
      Administrator Natsios and A/S Kansteiner on food aid to 
      Southern Africa received prominent placement in the 
      government-controlled daily "The Herald."  The 
      independent weekly "The Financial Gazette" also 
      published a Reuters account of the Natsios/Kansteiner 
      press briefing. 
 
  2.   Under headline "Plot to oust President: U. S. 
      masterminds plan; SADC states deny involvement" the 
      "Herald" (08/22) carried the following lead story: 
 
      "The U. S. claims it is working with the 
      European Union (EU) and three SADC countries to 
      topple President Mugabe and his government from 
      office but the African governments yesterday 
      scoffed at the American claims.  U. S. Assistant 
      Secretary for African Affairs Mr. Walter 
      Kansteiner claimed his government was working 
      with South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, the EU, 
      several other countries throughout the world, 
      civil society and some journalists in the 
      private media in Zimbabwe to remove the 
      President and government from office.  But South 
      Africa, Botswana and Mozambique yesterday 
      distanced themselves from Mr. Kansteiner's 
      statement, saying they were not aware of any 
      such plans. 
 
      "South Africa's presidential spokesman Mr. Bheki 
      Khumalo said his government was not aware of any 
      plans to remove the Zimbabwean government from 
      office.  `I don't know anything about it.  I 
      don't know where it (Mr. Kansteiner's statement) 
      comes from,' said Mr. Khumalo.  Botswana denied 
      it was working closely with the U. S., South 
      Africa and Mozambique to find ways of isolating 
      President Mugabe.  `Botswana is not involved in 
      such a scheme,' Botswana foreign affairs 
      spokesman Mr. Clifford Maribe told `The Herald.' 
      `We are not aware of these reports.  We will not 
      participate in such schemes.  Issues related to 
      Zimbabwe are being handled by Zimbabwe as a 
      sovereign country,' Mr. Maribe said.  `Botswana 
      will never meddle in the internal affairs of 
      another country.'  Mozambique also denied the 
      statement by the U. S. official, saying it was 
      not aware of such a plan to remove the 
      government of Zimbabwe from office.  `I am not 
      aware of any initiative of that kind with us. 
      Our approach to Zimbabwe is to bring everybody 
      on board to find solutions,' Reuters quoted 
      Mozambican Foreign Affairs Minister Mr. Leonardo 
      Simao as saying. 
 
      ". . .USAID head Mr. Andrew Natsios, speaking at 
      the same press conference, said the current food 
      shortage in Zimbabwe were a result of drought 
      but went on to attack the government's land 
      reform program, claiming that white commercial 
      farmers whose farms have been acquired for 
      resettlement were being prevented from farming 
      to feed the nation.  Statistics, however, show 
      that smallholder and communal farmers produce a 
      large proportion of Zimbabwe's staple crop, 
      maize. . .  He also accused the government of 
      distributing food along political lines.  But 
      investigations by the EU and World Food Program 
      offices in Zimbabwe have shown that aid was not 
      being distributed according to political 
      affiliation.  Representatives of the two 
      organizations said at a recent Press conference 
      in Harare that food was going to deserving 
      cases." 
 
  3.   Under headline "Club gears up to expel Zim" (a 
      page-one report on the possibility that the 
      Commonwealth could expel Zimbabwe), the "Financial 
      Gazette" (08/22) also mentioned A/S Kansteiner's 
      remarks: ".In a sign of growing impatience by the 
      international community over Harare's conduct, U. S. 
      Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Walter 
      Kansteiner this week said Washington did not recognize 
      Mugabe's presidency and wanted him isolated further. 
      . . .Zimbabwe accused the U. S. and Britain 
      yesterday of a `racist' campaign to isolate 
      Mugabe internationally and maintain white 
      economic dominance in southern Africa. . .'  The 
      legitimacy of our political system or our 
      President is not dependent on America, Britain 
      or any other country but on Zimbabweans,' a 
      senior Zimbabwean official said.  `The bullying 
      tactics that America and Britain are using 
      against us are meant to frustrate our quest for 
      social and economic justice, to stop our program 
      to redistribute some of the very large tracts of 
      land held by whites here to the indigenous black 
      people,' he said." 
 
SULLIVAN