US embassy cable - 05HARARE1312

UNCLAS HARARE 001312 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPDC, CASC, PHUM, US, ZI 
SUBJECT: TRANSMISSION OF LETTER OF CONDOLENCE FROM H.E. 
PRESIDENT R.G. MUGABE TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH 
 
 
1. (U) Embassy Harare is in receipt of a dip note from the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Zimbabwe 
forwarding a condolence message from H.E. President R.G. 
Mugabe to President George W. Bush and the bereaved families 
affected by Hurricane Katrina. Embassy will forward the note 
and condolence message by pouch to the Department. 
 
2. (U) (BEGIN TEXT) 
Your Excellency, 
It was with profound shock that we learnt of the havoc caused 
by Hurricane Katrina, the destructive storm which swept 
through the Gulf Coast states of your country recently, 
resulting in a sad loss of human life and extensive damage to 
property. 
 
On behalf of the Government and people of the Republic of 
Zimbabwe and on my own behalf, I wish to convey our deep 
sympathy and sincere condolences to you, Your Excellency, and 
through you, to the bereaved families and to the Government 
and people of the United States of America, in this very 
difficult hour. 
 
Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances of my highest 
consideration. 
 
Yours sincerely, 
R.G. Mugabe, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe 
(END TEXT) 
 
3.  (U) Comment: Mugabe's condolences ring disingenuous. 
Speaking in the General Debate at the United Nations General 
Assembly on September 17, Mugabe accused the U.S. of 
hyprocritically condemning him for demolishing urban slums 
while neglecting our own homeless black victims of the 
hurricane.  Playing the well-practiced race card before the 
Assembly he said, "a whole community of mainly non-whites was 
deliberately abandoned to the ravages of Hurricane Katrina as 
sacrificial lambs." 
 
4. (U)  Comment cont'd: The devastation caused by Hurricane 
Katrina has struck a chord with Zimbabweans.  Despite 
Mugabe's rhetoric, many messages in the independent press 
focus on the suffering of US citizens and commend the USG for 
its disaster relief efforts.  Some commentators have gone so 
far as to use USG efforts as a point of comparison to turn 
the criticism back on Mugabe's Operation Restore Order.  For 
example, Ralph Black, Director of Communications for the 
Association of Zimbabweans Based Abroad, writing for SW Radio 
Africa on September 19, commented that the USG had responded 
with compassion to the suffering and had engaged the military 
in saving lives, while the Zimbabwean military had been 
involved in the destruction of dwellings and businesses.  To 
add insult to injury, he commented, the Zimbabwean government 
was actively preventing humanitarian assistance from reaching 
the affected.  End comment. 
DELL