GOVERNMENT MEDIA CRITICIZE ARCHBISHOP NCUBE FO

UNCLAS HARARE 001031 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER LONDON FOR GURNEY PARIS FOR NEARY NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KPAO KMDR ZI SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT MEDIA CRITICIZE ARCHBISHOP NCUBE FO MEETING WITH SECRETARY POWELL ¶1. Under headline "Pius Ncube must make his intentions clear" the government-controlled daily "Chronicle's" May 22 editorial was critical of Bulawayo Archbishop Pius Ncube for having met with Secretary of State Colin Powell during a recent visit to Washington. Excerpts follow. ¶2. ". . .Instead of us being told that the Archbishop was welcomed by and held talks with fellow Catholics in the U.S., we are told that he met General Colin Powell, the U.S. Secretary of State and a host of secret agents. General Powell is a military man who got his ego inflated to unimaginable proportions following his escapades in Iraq. . . Since Gen. Powell insinuated that they (Powell and Ncube) seemed to agree on the main issues, seeing that his (Ncube's) stance was `principled,' this would seem to point to a consensus over the removal of the government of Zimbabwe that was elected in 2002. Some American Kainsteiner has made it no secret that the U.S. seeks to remove the democratically elected government of Zimbabwe. It becomes cause for concern if men of the cloth start giving political speeches from the pulpit. . . ." SULLIVAN