MEDIA REPORT TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS EFFECTIVE;

UNCLAS HARARE 001358 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: PREL PHUM KPAO ZI SUBJECT: MEDIA REPORT TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS EFFECTIVE; HARARE ¶1. Under headline "Government in a state of denial of reality" the independent daily "The Daily News" dedicated its Tuesday 4 editorial to declaring that the travel restrictions imposed on Mugabe's government are effective. Excerpts: ¶2. "The government's attempts to pretend that the whole world still loves it in spite of its violation of its citizens' human rights are now bordering on the absurd. Last month, President Mugabe led a high- powered delegation to New York to attend a United Nations conference on children. Under the UN headquarters agreement the U.S. is obliged to let any head of state into the UN building unless they are banned or suspended from the UN. That is the only reason why Mugabe and his retinue were able to travel to the US, in spite of the 'smart sanctions' imposed on them by the US administration under the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act. If they had landed in Washington, DC or Seattle, in Washington State, on a shopping spree, it is doubtful that they would have been allowed to get off their plane. But the government propaganda would have us believe that the government is winning its war against its detractors, that the sanctions are ineffective and that Zimbabwe is as squeaky clean, diplomatically, as it was before the bloodshed that began with the farm invasions of 2000 and culminated with the controversial presidential election last March. All this misinformation may fool some people some of the time, but it won't fool all the people all the time. . . ." SULLIVAN