ZAMBIAN PRESIDENT MAKES STATE VISIT TO ZIMBABWE

C O N F I D E N T I A L HARARE 001042

SIPDIS

NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR JFRAZER
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/30/2012
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM EAGR ASEC ZI ZA
SUBJECT: ZAMBIAN PRESIDENT MAKES STATE VISIT TO ZIMBABWE

Classified By: Political Officer Todd Faulk for reasons 1.5 (b)
and (d)


1. (C) Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa made a state visit
to Zimbabwe April 25-28 as the guest of honor at Zimbabwe's
International Trade Fair, an occasion he used in an apparent
attempt to bolster President Mugabe's image at home and
abroad. The first head of state to visit Zimbabwe since the
flawed presidential election of March 9-11, Mwanawasa took
the opportunity to wax eloquent about Zambian-Zimbabwean
relations and the bright future of regional trade in southern
Africa. During a tour of a Masvingo maize-growing project on
April 25 (see paragraph 2),the Zambian President
congratulated Zimbabweans' on their "choice" of Mugabe as
president. Mwanawasa proclaimed the election free and fair,
noted that peace and harmony had been restored, and urged
Zimbabweans to bury their political differences -- as
Zambians had done after their election -- to address the
problem of growing hunger and economic decline. In an April
26 press statement, the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) criticized Mwanawasa for endorsing Mugabe's win
and expressed "shock" and "dismay" that Mwanawasa was under
the impression that peace and harmony had returned to
Zimbabwe when MDC members continue to die at the hands of
ruling party supporters.


2. (C) Mwanawasa visited the Masvingo lowveldt, where the
large, irrigated sugar cane plantations are located, to view
the Agriculture Ministry's most recent cock-eyed scheme to
alleviate food shortages. This scheme has the GOZ
"borrowing" acreage from Anglo-American's Triangle Sugar
Estate and the Hippo Valley estate next door to plant a crop
of "winter maize". The effort, we are told, ignores basic
tenets of agriculture. For example, winter frost is
prevalent in the area, which kills early maize but does not
affect the hardier sugar cane. In addition, sugar cane
fields harbor an insect called the black maize beetle, which
only consumes very young sugar cane when it is controlled.
The bug will have a feast on the unexpected maize and
drastically reduce yields, perhaps even to zero. Maize needs
fairly high soil moisture content to germinate. Cane fields
are sandy (cane is deep-rooted and the irrigation water soaks
through the sandy upper level to be trapped by the heavier
soil below, thereby reducing water usage rates),and such
soils usually do not retain moisture well enough for good
germination to occur. If one irrigates too much, the seeds
rot; too little, and no baby corn plants. Agronomists and
others in agriculture deride the effort, labeling it as a
waste of precious resources and ill-fated from the start.


3. (C) On April 26, Mwanawasa officially opened the 43rd
annual Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in Bulawayo.
Despite announcements from Mwanawasa and Mugabe that improved
cross-border trade is just around the corner, the Trade Fair
opened with the lowest level of exhibitor participation since
independence in 1980. (Note: The U.S. did not display and
have an official information booth at the fair for the first
time in 21 years. End note.) Zimbabwe's regressive economic
policies undoubtedly scared away most Western participants,
leaving primarily local and regional companies to proffer
their limited wares. Mwanawasa tried to make the most of
things by describing small- to medium-sized businesses as the
hope for Zimbabwe's economic development.


4. (C) Comment: Mwanawasa, as the junior leader in the SADC
region, was probably delighted to be invited by Mugabe, the
most senior. We certainly would not have expected Mwanawasa
to be anything other than gracious and supportive in his
visit, as he angles for acceptance in the local presidential
"club," but his wholesale endorsement of Mugabe, and by
extension the disaster engulfing Zimbabwe, went several steps
too far. Mugabe, for his part, took advantage of the Zambian
leader's junior status -- by stage-managing a state visit so
soon after the election -- to help underscore for Zimbabweans
and other regional leaders his claim to be the legitimate
president of Zimbabwe. Mugabe undoubtedly took comfort in
the fact that a foreign leader was willing to visit Zimbabwe
to open the trade fair, a long-standing tradition. We
understand that several other heads of state were "otherwise
occupied" and did not respond to earlier Mugabe feelers. It
will be interesting to observe whether the other regional,
wizened leaders will be willing to accept Mugabe's outreach
as his badly tainted election recedes into the past. End
comment.

SULLIVAN