MEDIA REPORT MUGABE'S VISIT TO THE UN

UNCLAS HARARE 001140

SIPDIS

AF/PD FOR COX AND ROBERTSON, AF/S FOR KRAFT AND SCHLACHTER,
AF/RA FOR DIPALMA, INR/R/MR, NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ZI PREL PHUM
SUBJECT: MEDIA REPORT MUGABE'S VISIT TO THE UN



1. Under the headline "'Smart sanctions fail': Ban
imposed on Zimbabwe's leadership has failed to work:
Mudenge," the government-owned daily "Herald" offers the
official view of President Mugabe's May 8-12 visit to UN
headquarters in New York. Excerpts:


2. "President Mugabe's visit to the UN in New York last
week means that the so-called smart sanctions imposed on
Zimbabwe's leadership have failed to work, the Minister
of Foreign Affairs Stan Mudenge, said yesterday. . .
The U.S. and the EU imposed the so-called targeted
sanctions, which are supposed to ban President Mugabe
and his entire Cabinet from visiting the U.S. and EU
member countries. Yet the President and the First Lady;
as well as the Minister of Youth Development, Gender and
Employment Creation, Elliot Manyika, spent close to a
week in New York and their movements were not restricted
at all. A spokesman for Zimbabwe's Permanent Mission to
the UN, Mr. Emmanuel Gumbo, dismissed media reports that
Mugabe's movements were restricted as mischievous. He
said the President had '25 green lights ahead of him to
travel anywhere he wishes in the United States. . . .'"

SULLIVAN