MEDIA REPORT KANSTEINER UNDER FIRE; HARARE

UNCLAS HARARE 002196 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS IRAQ PD FOR SMITH, PINESS AND ROOKARD AF FOR RAYNOR NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER LONDON FOR GURNEY PARIS FOR NEARY NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KMDR ZI SUBJECT: MEDIA REPORT KANSTEINER UNDER FIRE; HARARE ¶1. Under headline "Kansteiner: from C-130 to Carrots" the government-controlled daily "The Herald" (11/02), circulation 55 to 70,000, carried the following op-ed by Nathaniel Manheru, a. k. a. Jonathan Moyo (Information Minister),under his regular column "The Other Side" in which he brags about Robert Mugabe's make-believe invincibility against the United States, before taking a jab at the outgoing Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Walter Kansteiner, saying " he bows out with the limp of a defeated man whose instigatory advice on Zimbabwe has yielded a hefty policy failure for the Bush administration." Excerpts: ¶2. "Talking about the Americans, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Walter Kansteiner has called it quits, but not before conceding in his valedictory interview that President Mugabe has been an impossible nut for America to crack. Far from coming across as a bellicose proponent of `regime change' and `challenge to Zimbabwe's sovereignty,' the man whimpers about using `a combination of carrots and sticks,' not even on the President and his government, but `on all players.' Admitting that the opposition which he euphemistically terms `the civil society' is `hanging on by a thread,' Kansteiner comes across much softer, as almost unaware of America's weapons of shock and awe, C-130 included, which he once threatened America would deploy to challenge Zimbabwe's sovereignty. Like his predecessor Chester Crooker, he bows out with the limp of a defeated man whose instigatory advice on Zimbabwe has yielded a hefty policy failure for the Bush administration. After all, while George may get sticks in the Bush, he certainly has no carrots. And even if he had them, he would soon discover that the world does not live on carrots alone. Let him ask his buffeted men in Iraq. Meanwhile I say, to Kansteiner: kwaheri the mourned one. As you tread softly into complete oblivion, Studio 7 whispers its own epitaph and together you shall be where America buries its defeated cold warriors." SULLIVAN