US embassy cable - 03HARARE1411

UNCLAS HARARE 001411 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AORC, PREL, PHUM, ZI 
SUBJECT: 58TH UNGA - ZIMBABWE AGREES WITH MOST U.S. 
INITIATIVES 
 
REF: SECSTATE 175664 
 
1. SUMMARY: On July 10, DCM delivered Reftel demarche to 
Tadeous Chifamba, Director of Multilateral Affairs in 
Zimbabwe,s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who raised no 
objections to any of the U.S. initiatives. Chifamba 
enthusiastically agreed with the U.S. position on Women & 
Political Participation and Cloning but had more tempered, 
yet positive, responses on the other initiatives. END SUMMARY. 
 
2.  On July 10, DCM delivered Reftel demarche to Tadeous 
Chifamba, Director of Multilateral Affairs in Zimbabwe,s 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who had no objections to any of 
the U.S. initiatives. PolOff and Chifamba,s assistant Winnie 
Moyo were note takers. 
 
3. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responses to each 
initiative follow: 
 
A. Women & Political Participation: Chifamba indicated that 
Zimbabwe would support any initiative that empowers women to 
become meaningful participants in the political process.  He 
cited Zimbabwe as one of the leaders in sub-Saharan Africa on 
this score. 
 
B. HIV/AIDS Resolution: Chifamba indicated that Zimbabwe did 
not object to this initiative but then groused about 
Zimbabwe,s exclusion from President Bush,s $15 billion AIDS 
initiative.  He expressed concern that access to HIV/AIDS 
funds not be politicized, arguing that HIV/AIDS does not 
respect borders and could easily spread from a funded country 
to a non-funded country.  He said to exclude a country from 
receiving funds is not humanitarian. 
 
C. Second Committee Reform: Chifamba said Zimbabwe had no 
problems with reform but argued that the pledged Monterrey 
funds were inadequate to meet the Summit,s objectives.  He 
also said that although ODA and FDI are welcome, increased 
market access would do more to aid development.  DCM 
mentioned that AGOA had been successful for participating 
countries but that it was up to Zimbabwe to meet the 
eligibility requirements associated with AGOA. 
 
D. Cyber-Crime/Cyber-Security: Chifamba indicated that 
Zimbabwe was neutral on this issue but he expressed concern 
over the digital divide and ways to increase connectivity 
within Zimbabwe. 
 
E. Cloning: Chifamba said Zimbabwe was in &100 percent 
agreement8 with the U.S. on banning human embryonic cloning 
but would like to go beyond that to ban cloning of all life 
forms.  He did not comment to co-sponsorship of a resolution. 
 
F. UN Budget Discipline: Chifamba agreed that the UN needs to 
exercise some budgetary discipline particularly in the realm 
of the UN specialized agencies (eg. WFP, UNDP, FAO), which 
often engage in money-wasting identical projects, but would 
not agree with the U.S. beyond this area.  He said the reform 
of UNSC membership and rules was a top priority for Zimbabwe, 
as far as U.N. reform is concerned. 
SULLIVAN