INDEPENDENT PAPER ASKS GOVERNMENT TO EXPLAIN

UNCLAS HARARE 002069 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/PD, AF/S, AF/RA NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER LONDON FOR GURNEY PARIS FOR NEARY NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PHUM KPAO KMDR ZI SUBJECT: INDEPENDENT PAPER ASKS GOVERNMENT TO EXPLAIN POLICY SHIFT ON BIOTECH FOOD ASSISTANCE ¶1. Under headline "State must explain policy flip- flop on GM food" the independent daily "The Daily News" dedicated its September 10 editorial to challenging the government to explain President Mugabe's ruling that Zimbabwe will accept food aid that may contain biotech products. Excerpts: ¶2. "The government must explain its sudden U-turn on genetically modified (GM) maize. . . State media reports that James Morris, the director of the World Food Program (WFP),was rebuffed by President Mugabe. . .when he first raised the issue on the sidelines of the Earth Summit in Johannesburg. Morris persisted and came out to Harare. Soon after meeting Mugabe, the government announced the WFP planned to ship 600,000 tons of maize, some of it GM, into the country. So what was all the fuss about? The government's only face-saver was that the food will be `quarantined,' whatever that means. The government must explain what it knows now about GM food - which it didn't know last week - the precautions people must take before consumption and the reason for this radical policy shift." SULLIVAN