GOVERNMENT PAPER SAYS U.S. IS FINANCING "ANTI-

UNCLAS HARARE 002106 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 ZI SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT PAPER SAYS U.S. IS FINANCING "ANTI- GOVERNMENT NGOS" ¶1. The September 17 edition of the government- controlled daily Bulawayo "Chronicle" carries a page- one, above-the-fold story entitled "Unholy alliance: Washington finances anti-government NGOs." Excerpts follow. ¶2. "The U.S. Government is assisting non- governmental organizations in Zimbabwe to open off- shore accounts in the British Isles so that they can circumvent exchange control regulations and conceal their sources of funding, `Chronicle' learnt this week. The Open Society Institute for Southern Africa (OSISA),funded by Hungarian-born American billionaire, Mr. George Soros, has been financing pirate radio stations in Zimbabwe in a bid to destabilize the country. Investigations by `Chronicle' have revealed that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has, through an agent identified as Brett Hurst, been assisting NGOs to open off-shore accounts in the British Isles where millions of dollars in `aid' have been wired to Zimbabwe. Mr. David Lush, the OSISA representative in Southern Africa, has been coordinating financing for anti- government NGOs from his base in Johannesburg. "`Chronicle' has established that America played a pivotal role in financing anti- government pirate radio stations with its destabilization wing - the Office of Transitional Initiatives (OTS) - heavily involved in fanning `hate propaganda' prior to the March presidential elections. Two U.S. senators also secretly slipped into the country in June last year and met representatives of the Radio Dialogue Trust FM at a Bulawayo hotel. Three nationals, Messrs Eden Egan from PACT - an arm of USAID, Hurst and Scott (from the OTI) - have been instrumental in coordinating NGO activity in the country. The U.S. government has announced it is working with South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana to topple the government of Zimbabwe. But the three Southern African states have flatly denied the claims. . . Sources alleged that Mr. Hurst is an agent of USAID and assists NGOs to open offshore accounts so that they can circumvent exchange control regulations and conceal their sources of funding. . . ." SULLIVAN