EDITORIAL ON WSSD

UNCLAS HARARE 001994

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SUBJECT: EDITORIAL ON WSSD


1. Under headline "Too many words, too little
action," the independent weekly "The Financial Gazette"
dedicated its August 29, 2002 editorial to the World
Summit on Sustainable Development. Excerpts:


2. "Zimbabweans, as indeed many other Africans, will
be forgiven if they dismiss as a circus the World
Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) now under way
in South Africa. . . They and millions of others in
the developing world are only acutely aware that too
many similar talk shops have been staged before and the
result has almost always been the same: no tangible
improvement in the basic quality of their wretched
lives. . . The world's poor have now become used to
helplessly watching their leaders gather for such lofty
meetings at a great cost to formulate right-sounding
policies and pledges which are quickly forgotten.

"The timing of the staging of the WSSD could
not have been more ironic, or perhaps an eye-
opener, for Zimbabwe. . . Dubbed the Third
Revolution, President Robert Mugabe's ruthless
campaign to stay in power at whatever cost has
been truly sobering to the nation. A wasteland
is all that remains of a country that was only
rivaled in Africa at independence by economic
powerhouses South Africa and Nigeria. But
Zimbabweans can be certain that Mugabe, when he
joins other leaders at the WSSD, will make the
usual positive declarations of eradicating
poverty and disease and of empowering his
nation and protecting its natural resources -
the key goals of the summit. And yet back
home, the actions of his government will indeed
highlight why such summits, at least for
Africa, are useless talk shops that are better
forgotten.

"Indeed Mugabe's weekend appointment of the
so-called war Cabinet - a Cabinet whose mandate
is to crush opponents and all voices of
democracy - once again makes the point that he
is determined to take Zimbabwe down with him at
his suicidal path. . ."

SULLIVAN