US embassy cable - 03HARARE1467

UNCLAS HARARE 001467 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS 
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./ ZIM RELATIONS; HARARE 
 
 
  1.   Back-to-back leading articles in the July 20 and 21 
      editions of the independent weekly "The Daily News 
      on Sunday" and its sister daily "The Daily News," 
      respectively, focus on the failing relations between 
      the United States and Zimbabwe.  Excerpts follow: 
 
  2.   The July 20 edition of the independent weekly "The 
      Daily News on Sunday" focuses on an eerie blackmail 
      statement by Robert Mugabe in which he warns the 
      United States and the United Kingdom against 
      invading Zimbabwe, saying if attacked "it will be 
      their children who will be the first to die."  Under 
      headline "Mugabe warns U. S.: `Attack us, we will 
      kill your children'" Godwin Mangudya, Senior 
      Reporter, reports: 
 
      "As the U. S. and British pressure mounted on 
      President Robert Mugabe to step down a fortnight 
      ago, he told his supporters the children of the two 
      countries' citizens in Zimbabwe would be the first 
      to die if they invaded this country as they did in 
      Iraq.  Mugabe, facing political and economic 
      turmoil, said Zimbabwe was ready to retaliate if the 
      U. S. and the UK, implacable critics of his 
      government's skewed policies, deployed their 
      soldiers here to throw him out of power as they did 
      Saddam Hussein.  Mugabe said in Shona: `Zvavakaita 
      kuIraq havangambozviedza muno.  Anotanga kufa vana 
      vavo muno. (They will never attempt to do here what 
      they did in Iraq because it is their children who 
      will be the first to die.)'  He gave the warning at 
      a political rally in the Chivi South constituency in 
      Masvingo. . .The speech stunned many supporters, but 
      was not given prominence in the government media. 
      The privately owned media picked it up only after 
      being alerted by those who attended the rally.  The 
      exact quotation was transcribed from a tape of the 
      speech made available to `The Daily News.'  Mugabe 
      did not elaborate on how the American and British 
      children would die. . . ." 
 
  3.   President George W. Bush's inclusion of Zimbabwe among 
      rogue states in a proclamation issued to mark "Captive 
      Nations Week," made the lead story in the July 21 edition 
      of the independent daily "The Daily News."   Excerpts of 
      the article, picked from the South African-based News24 
      channel, follow: 
 
      "President George W. Bush on Friday hit out at six 
      regimes on a United States blacklist he said was 
      guilty of oppression and human rights abuses in 
      Myanmar, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Zimbabwe and 
      Belarus. . .There were also harsh words for North 
      Korea, with which Washington has been locked in a 
      nuclear weapons showdown since October. . .'' 
      `Violence, corruption, and mismanagement reign in 
      Zimbabwe. . .University of Zimbabwe (UZ) political 
      scientist Eldred Masinungure said Bush's listing of 
      Zimbabwe among the rogue states such as Myanmar was 
      a sign of `the U. S.'s anxiety for a solution over 
      Zimbabwe's slide into absolute authoritarian 
      rule. . . ." 
 
SULLIVAN