MEDIA REPORT U. S./U. K. UNDER FIRE, HARARE

UNCLAS HARARE 002707

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/PD, AF/S, AF/RA, AF/PDPA
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER
LONDON FOR GURNEY
PARIS FOR NEARY
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL KPAO KMDR ZI
SUBJECT: MEDIA REPORT U. S./U. K. UNDER FIRE, HARARE



1. Under headline "Are the U.K. and U.S. moving
against Zimbabwe7" the independent daily the
"The Daily News" published a November 25 op-ed
by "Ann Talbotr" (sic) accusing the United
States and Britain of "using starvation. . .as a
means of tightening their grip on Africa."
Excerpts:


2. "Amid speculation about the possible actions of
the Britain and the United States, Zimbabwe's
petrol pumps have run dry, deepening the crisis
already caused by the famine and threatening
emergency food deliveries. . . Whatever form
the intervention takes, it will represent an
implicit threat to the whole of Africa. The
increasingly belligerent attitude of the Bush
administration towards Zimbabwe follows its
attempts to establish much greater control over
the oil reserves of West Africa. The conclusion
that Africa faces a new wave of imperial
expansion is inescapable. It is a threat that
Mugabe and other African nationalist leaders are
incapable of averting... His [Bush'sl political
thuggery and manipulation of food aid have only
served to provide a pretext for intervention...
The U.S. and U.K. are blaming Mugabe for the
situation in Zimbabwe, but they have done
nothing to alleviate the hunger in these other
countries where Mugabe cannot be held
responsible. Instead the imperialist powers are
using starvation. for which they are largely
responsible, as a means of tightening their grip
on Africa. The present famines are the direct
result of International Monetary Fund policies
that have left African governments unable to buy
food that is in plentiful supply outside the
re&ions immediately hit by drou&ht and wars,
which have been fomented by the West."


3. [omment. The ill-informed, anti-West sentiments
in this op-ed are not standard fare for the
independent "Daily News." End comment.

SULLIVAN