MEDIA REPORT U. S./ ZIM RELATIONS; HARARE

UNCLAS HARARE 001467 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: MEDIA REPORT U. S./ ZIM RELATIONS; HARARE ¶1. Back-to-back leading articles in the July 20 and 21 editions of the independent weekly "The Daily News on Sunday" and its sister daily "The Daily News," respectively, focus on the failing relations between the United States and Zimbabwe. Excerpts follow: ¶2. The July 20 edition of the independent weekly "The Daily News on Sunday" focuses on an eerie blackmail statement by Robert Mugabe in which he warns the United States and the United Kingdom against invading Zimbabwe, saying if attacked "it will be their children who will be the first to die." Under headline "Mugabe warns U. S.: `Attack us, we will kill your children'" Godwin Mangudya, Senior Reporter, reports: "As the U. S. and British pressure mounted on President Robert Mugabe to step down a fortnight ago, he told his supporters the children of the two countries' citizens in Zimbabwe would be the first to die if they invaded this country as they did in Iraq. Mugabe, facing political and economic turmoil, said Zimbabwe was ready to retaliate if the ¶U. S. and the UK, implacable critics of his government's skewed policies, deployed their soldiers here to throw him out of power as they did Saddam Hussein. Mugabe said in Shona: `Zvavakaita kuIraq havangambozviedza muno. Anotanga kufa vana vavo muno. (They will never attempt to do here what they did in Iraq because it is their children who will be the first to die.)' He gave the warning at a political rally in the Chivi South constituency in Masvingo. . .The speech stunned many supporters, but was not given prominence in the government media. The privately owned media picked it up only after being alerted by those who attended the rally. The exact quotation was transcribed from a tape of the speech made available to `The Daily News.' Mugabe did not elaborate on how the American and British children would die. . . ." ¶3. President George W. Bush's inclusion of Zimbabwe among rogue states in a proclamation issued to mark "Captive Nations Week," made the lead story in the July 21 edition of the independent daily "The Daily News." Excerpts of the article, picked from the South African-based News24 channel, follow: "President George W. Bush on Friday hit out at six regimes on a United States blacklist he said was guilty of oppression and human rights abuses in Myanmar, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Zimbabwe and Belarus. . .There were also harsh words for North Korea, with which Washington has been locked in a nuclear weapons showdown since October. . .'' `Violence, corruption, and mismanagement reign in Zimbabwe. . .University of Zimbabwe (UZ) political scientist Eldred Masinungure said Bush's listing of Zimbabwe among the rogue states such as Myanmar was a sign of `the U. S.'s anxiety for a solution over Zimbabwe's slide into absolute authoritarian rule. . . ." SULLIVAN