US embassy cable - 02HARARE2707

UNCLAS HARARE 002707 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/PD, AF/S, AF/RA, AF/PDPA 
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER 
LONDON FOR GURNEY 
PARIS FOR NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, KPAO, KMDR, ZI 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REPORT U. S./U. K. UNDER FIRE, HARARE 
 
 
  1.  Under headline "Are the U.K. and U.S. moving 
      against Zimbabwe7" the independent daily the 
      "The Daily News" published a November 25 op-ed 
      by "Ann Talbotr" (sic) accusing the United 
      States and Britain of "using starvation. . .as a 
      means of tightening their grip on Africa." 
      Excerpts: 
 
  2.  "Amid speculation about the possible actions of 
      the Britain and the United States, Zimbabwe's 
      petrol pumps have run dry, deepening the crisis 
      already caused by the famine and threatening 
      emergency food deliveries. . .  Whatever form 
      the intervention takes, it will represent an 
      implicit threat to the whole of Africa.  The 
      increasingly belligerent attitude of the Bush 
      administration towards Zimbabwe follows its 
      attempts to establish much greater control over 
      the oil reserves of West Africa.  The conclusion 
      that Africa faces a new wave of imperial 
      expansion is inescapable.  It is a threat that 
      Mugabe and other African nationalist leaders are 
      incapable of averting...  His [Bush'sl political 
      thuggery and manipulation of food aid have only 
      served to provide a pretext for intervention... 
      The U.S. and U.K. are blaming Mugabe for the 
      situation in Zimbabwe, but they have done 
      nothing to alleviate the hunger in these other 
      countries where Mugabe cannot be held 
      responsible.  Instead the imperialist powers are 
      using starvation. for which they are largely 
      responsible, as a means of tightening their grip 
      on Africa.  The present famines are the direct 
      result of International Monetary Fund policies 
      that have left African governments unable to buy 
      food that is in plentiful supply outside the 
      re&ions immediately hit by drou&ht and wars, 
      which have been fomented by the West." 
 
  3.  [omment.  The ill-informed, anti-West sentiments 
      in this op-ed are not standard fare for the 
      independent "Daily News."  End comment. 
 
SULLIVAN