US embassy cable - 02HARARE2069

UNCLAS HARARE 002069 
 
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: INDEPENDENT PAPER ASKS GOVERNMENT TO EXPLAIN 
POLICY SHIFT ON BIOTECH FOOD ASSISTANCE 
 
 
  1.   Under headline "State must explain policy flip- 
      flop on GM food" the independent daily "The Daily 
      News" dedicated its September 10 editorial to 
      challenging the government to explain President 
      Mugabe's ruling that Zimbabwe will accept food aid 
      that may contain biotech products.  Excerpts: 
 
  2.   "The government must explain its sudden U-turn on 
      genetically modified (GM) maize. . .  State media 
      reports that James Morris, the director of the World 
      Food Program (WFP), was rebuffed by President Mugabe. 
      . .when he first raised the issue on the sidelines of 
      the Earth Summit in Johannesburg.  Morris persisted 
      and came out to Harare.  Soon after meeting Mugabe, 
      the government announced the WFP planned to ship 
      600,000 tons of maize, some of it GM, into the 
      country.  So what was all the fuss about?  The 
      government's only face-saver was that the food will be 
      `quarantined,' whatever that means.  The government 
      must explain what it knows now about GM food - which 
      it didn't know last week - the precautions people must 
      take before consumption and the reason for this 
      radical policy shift." 
 
SULLIVAN