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'US masterminded cholera outbreak'

http://www.herald.co.zw/

Published by the Government of Zimbabwe

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Herald Reporter

THERE are growing fears that there is more to the cholera outbreak than
meets the eye following revelations by the US State Department that it has
been preparing for the outbreak for quite sometime. The outbreak began last
August though the US hinted at years of preparation.

In a briefing with the US State Department on Thursday, attended by
Ambassador to Zimbabwe James D. McGee and Director of the Office of Foreign
Disaster Assistance Ky Luu in Washington; United States Agency for
International Develop-ment administrator Ms Henrietta Fore said the US had
long prepared for the epidemic.
''The United States, working alongside the international community, has been
preparing for a cholera outbreak for quite some time. Before the disease was
widespread, Usaid began building contingencies into its ongoing emergency
programmes, allowing us to quickly direct our assistance to specific targets
for cholera outbreaks,'' Fore said, raising the fears that her country may
have launched biological warfare on Zimbabwe.
US attempts to use cholera as an excuse to mobilise military action against
Zimbabwe have fuelled suspicions of biological warfare.
Despite assurances from the Ministry of Health that fatalities were going
down, Ky predicted that the outbreak would intensify over the festive
season.
McGee said he hoped the intensification would force the UN to invoke the
responsibility to protect proviso to facilitate invasion, the same
resolution that was suspiciously made by the MDC-T national council that met
in Harare yesterday.
''We've heard calls from Kenya, from Botswana, from Tanzania, from Zambia.
Malawi recently stood up and said, you know, enough is enough; Zimbabwe has
to clean up its act or President Mugabe has to go. This is what we're really
desperate to hear, and these are the types of things that we're very pleased
to hear," McGee said.
Observers questioned why the US was keen to use cholera as cause for war on
Zimbabwe when it had not been similarly inclined when the water-borne
disease hit other countries in the region.
Responding to the US campaign, the Minister of Information and Publicity,
Cde Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, yesterday, described the epidemic as a calculated
attack on Zimbabwe.
"The cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe is a serious biological chemical war
force, a genocidal onslaught on the people of Zimbabwe by the British," he
said.
"Cholera is a calculated racist terrorist attack on Zimbabwe by the
unrepentant former colonial power which has enlisted support from its
American and Western allies so that they invade the country."
Since the outbreak began in August, the American and British governments
have led calls for military action against Zimbabwe to unseat the
Government, claiming it was failing to protect its people.
Cde Ndlovu dismissed claims that the Government had abandoned the people
saying the outbreak was a consequence of the illegal Western sanctions and
Government was doing all it could to contain the outbreak.
"Because of sanctions we have not been able to import enough water
purification chemicals and water restitution pipes," Cde Ndlovu said.
"Government through the RBZ has provided the Zimbabwe National Water
Authority with foreign currency to import chemicals. We thank the World
Health Organisation and all health workers for the support in our fight
against cholera," Cde Ndlovu said.


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Cholera disaster zone: Zimbabwe's deprivation accelerates spread of disease

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Cholera fatalaties worldwide stand at around one per cent of those infected,
but as Robert Mugabe continues to offer no support to his own people,
fatality rates in parts of Zimbabwe have hit as high as 20 per cent.

By Peta Thornycroft, Zimbabwe Correspondent
Last Updated: 7:43PM GMT 12 Dec 2008

At the Seke South clinic, a few miles outside Harare, a steady stream of
desperate cholera victims arrive seeking treatment.

The facility serves the dormitory suburb of Chitungwiza, where more than one
in five of those who develop the disease die.

It is normally treatable and the international average for cholera
fatalities is one per cent of those infected, but Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe
offers virtually no help to its own people, even as it blames British
"genocide" for the epidemic.

There was only one foreign doctor on duty on the clinic, and a handful of
nurses, none of them from Zimbabwe's health ministry. In a single day this
week four patients died there.

Chitungwiza, a sprawling high-density area, provides ideal conditions for
the disease to spread. Clusters of flies swarm over years of uncollected
garbage, pools of water collected along rutted lanes after a summer shower,
and the afternoon breeze wafting across the township carries the stench of
the sewage works a mile away.

United Nations statistics show that 21 per cent of those infected in
Chitungwiza die, as opposed to two percent for the rest of Harare and Beit
Bridge, the border town where South Africans send in fresh water, drugs and
medical personnel.

Alpha Chinbiri 32, a middle-class housewife was sitting at the broken fence
around the clinic and said her husband had woken up ill. "We rushed him
here, but we have heard nothing since.

"I can't get inside and I can't get any information about him. There is no
food in this clinic and they will not let our food in, so I am very
worried." At least 20 relatives of other patients were at the fence. The
clinic has opened its maternity section to cholera victims, and Unicef has
erected a tent giving the township 300 available beds.

"There is no manpower here, that is the problem," said a nurse.


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As Cholera Rages, Zimbabwe Hospital Staff Reject Hard-Currency Offer

http://www.voanews.com

By Sylvia Manika, Joe De Capua & David Gollust

Washington
12 December 2008

Struggling along with international partners to containa burgeoning cholera
epidemic, the Zimbabwean governmentlate this week offered hard currency
wages to striking doctors, nurses and hospital staff who promptly rejected
the proposal it as inadequate.

Meanwhile a major new cholera outbreak was reported in Chegutu, Mashonaland
West province, where sources said 60 people have died in the past four days.

Correspondent Sylvia Manika of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe reported from
Harare that the resident doctors and nurses spurned monthly rates of US$200
and US$60, respectively.

The World Health Organization meanwhile said the death toll from cholera in
Zimbabwe had reached 792 with more than 17,000 cases reported across the
country.

Medecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders, called the epidemic
"unprecedented" in scale and warned it could continue for months- this
following controversial comments by President Robert Mugabe who said the
epidemic had been brought under control.

The U.S. government said it is more than doubling emergency its emergency
medical aid to the country, adding US$6.2 million to the US$4.6 million
already provided.


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UN Security Council to seek solution for Zimbabwe

http://www.monstersandcritics.com

Africa News
Dec 12, 2008, 19:02 GMT

New York/Geneva - The UN Security Council planned to meet Monday to try to
put an end to the plight of Zimbabwe under the regime of President Robert
Mugabe, a British diplomat said Friday.

British Ambassador John Sawers said the 15-nation council will meet to
discuss a report on the situation by the Group of Elders, which include
former US President Jimmy Carter, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and South
African President Nelson Mandela.

'We want to try to find a common way forward and a solution to this
absolutely desperate plight of the Zimbabwean people and a way to put
together a government that reflects the genuine will of the Zimbabwean
people ahead of the elections in March,' Sawers told reporters.

The country is suffering from a cholera epidemic that has killed around 800
people and infected thousands, while water supplies, sanitation and state
health and education services have fallen as the Zimbabwe's economy caves
under eight years of hyperinflation and mismanagement.

Mugabe's forces have brutally beaten and intimidated dissidents to maintain
a grip on his 28-year-rule. He won re-election this year in a vote monitors
said was rigged and the United States and European Union called a 'sham.'

Sawers said negotiations were taking place to work out the solution for the
problems in Zimbabwe. No details about the levels of government
participation in the council were provided, but the US State Department said
Condoleezza Rice planned to attend.

Rice will urge the Security Council to take 'meaningful action' against
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. She is to head to New York Monday and
Tuesday for discussions that will also focus on the tension between India
and Pakistan, piracy on the Somali coast and other topics, spokesman Sean
McCormack said.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who was visiting Geneva on Friday,
rejected a statement made by Mugabe that an epidemic of cholera in his
country had been wiped out. Ban also urged Mugabe to consider the well-being
of his people and agree to a power sharing deal with the opposition.

Ban said he held 'tense' discussions with Mugabe in Doha two weeks ago on
the power sharing deal reached in September with Morgan Tsvangirai, the
opposition leader, but could not get a 'positive response.'

'He should look for the future of his country and his own people who have
suffered too much for too long,' Ban told reporters in Geneva, where he was
also to attend a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the Universal
Declaration on Human Rights.

Ban said leaders should stay in office only to ensure the good of their
people.

He said the 'alarming reports' he received meant that he could not agree
with Muagabe's statements that the cholera epidemic was over.

UN statistics showed the number of cholera related deaths in the country
continued to rise, and Ban warned that border areas were at risk as well.

Speaking about his most recent meeting with the 84-year-old president, Ban
said he spoke 'from the bottom of my heart' with Mugabe and 'pressed as hard
as I could.'

The major concession granted from those talks was that UN teams were allowed
access to the country to help assess and fight the cholera outbreak.

Western leaders have called for Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe for 28 years,
to step down.


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Zimbabweans Chase Prices Into Stratosphere With Z$500 Million Note

http://www.voanews.com

By Patience Rusere
Washington
12 December 2008

In a by-now-familiar sequence, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe introduced new
bank notes in high denominations of up to Z$500 million, setting off another
surge in prices for ordinary goods as consumers rushed to spend their money
before it depreciated further.

The central bank in rapid sequence increased the daily limit in cash
withdrawals from banks to Z$500 million a week and rolled out notes for
Z$200 million and Z$500 million.

As of Friday the Z$500 million note was worth about 10 U.S. dollars.

The Z$100 million note issued on Dec. 4 was worth US$14 at the time but late
this week had an equivalent value of less than 50 U.S. cents, AFP reported.

The last official measure of inflation put it at 231 million percent in
July, but some economists estimate the annual rate of increase in prices to
be running in the hundreds of billions.

Harare correspondent Irwin Chifera of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe said a
doughnut that cost Z$25 million at midday on Friday cost Z$100 million by
evening, while the exchange rate for U.S. dollars surged to $50 million
Zimbabwe dollars to the greenback.


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Zimbabwe threatens international news bureaux

http://www.zimbabwejournalists.com

12th Dec 2008 23:08 GMT

By a Correspondent

THE Zimbabwe government has threatened to close foreign news bureaus for
Reuters, AP and AFP following the publication of stories that quoted
President Robert Mugabe as saying cholera had now been contained in the
country.

Writing in his column, the acerbic Nathaniel Manheru, believed to be
Mugabe's spokesman, George Charamba, says there is no need to have these
organisations, including the BBC, represented in Zimbabwe when they did not
respect their reporters on the ground. He says Zimbabwe does not need them.

Charamba was earlier incensed by reports that his boss had said there no
longer was cholera in Zimbabwe. He said the remarks were "distorted" and
"misrepresented" by the media.

In the column, Manheru says the stories did not originate from Harare but
were written from newsrooms in London, especially.

"It is also a loud way of telling those in authority in Zimbabwe to please
declassify them as bona fide news organisations, indeed a statement to say
we can cover Zimbabwe from our head offices, without local staffers. The
message has gone home and is well taken," says Manheru in his latest
offering in the Herald newspaper.

Writing under the sub-heading Africa of Downs and Dims, Manheru threatens
journalists working with international news organisations from
state-controlled newsrooms as well.

Chebamba chinodyiwa nemuseredzero, he says, which literally means those
being paid to get information or stories out will be dealt with.

"There is huge, dirty money involved, part of it flowing into public
newsrooms," he writes. "The line between these journalistic misdeeds and
espionage grows thinner and thinner by the day. I happen to know that the
authorities are about to place a price on those concerned, and let no one
cry. Chebamba chinodyiwa nemuseredzero."

Explaining the cholera story that saw Mugabe being condemned internationally
for allegedly saying there was no cholera in Zimbabwe anymore, Manheru says
local reporters' names were "expunged from the stories, in deference to
strange names abroad, names of persons who have never set foot here, but who
fiercely know and grieve that Zimbabwe was, once upon a time a British
colony, a haven for uninterrupted white real estate interests".

This column raises fear and alarm amongst Zimbabwean journalists, some of
whom are still in the country and were mentioned by name for working in
cahoots with international news organisations, including the United States
government.

Reads part of the Manheru column on the media:

"The bylines on virtually all the false stories, the voices on the
mendacious stories, are all from headquarters of the international news
networks. It is true for Reuters, AFP, AP, BBC, France 24 International, Al
Jazeera, the British Press, South African English Press etc, etc.

"Where were local reporters for these organisations? To the man, to the
woman, they were all there at Heroes Acre or before their television
screens, following in real time what the President was saying in his
address. It was not a matter of hearsay. They got the address in real time.
They were part of the event.'

But the amazing thing is their names were expunged from the stories, in
deference to strange names abroad, names of persons who have never set foot
here, but who fiercely know and grieve that Zimbabwe was, once upon a time a
British colony, a haven for uninterrupted white real estate interests.

These strange bosses - all white, all angry, in some cases quite pink -
appear to see better and clearer than their staffers who are in situ!

They wear binoculars which draw closer dynamics of situations in which their
countries' interests appear threatened.
And where this is the case, they do not hesitate to overrun their bureaux
here, reducing local reporters to mere runners, mere providers of raw copy
which they then rewrite to suit their nations' agendas.

They have played little gods with copy on Zimbabwe, in the process
rubbishing the letter and spirit of AIPPA. There has to be a robust
response. We do not need them, or to be here

Put simply, Zimbabwe has no reason or need to accredit bureaux and/or
reporters for foreign news organisations which are rendered passive or inert
in news processing.  Zimbabwe did not head-hunt for those organisations.
They chose the skills they wanted and proceeded to engage them.

Zimbabwe assumes they acquired skills they trust and believe in, which is
why they have retained them to the day.
To overrun those skills and structures is quite clearly a political decision
which has no place in the world of news.

It is a step taken in the interest of delivering these networks to the
foreign offices of their countries, to sharpen their governments' assault on
Zimbabwe.

It is also a loud way of telling those in authority in Zimbabwe to please
declassify them as bona fide news organisations, indeed a statement to say
we can cover Zimbabwe from our head offices, without local staffers. The
message has gone home and is well taken.

The reach from Pretoria

But a more sinister message has been coming through. Within our industry, we
have watched as the State Department created a full-blown structure in
Pretoria for compromising both local journalists and stringers of foreign
news organisations based in Harare.
It is an elaborate operation run by a lady American intelligence officer
from Pretoria.

She is in a number of newsrooms, including those of Reuters and AFP here.
She is in the so-called private Press, including inhabiting the heart of a
well known editor.

One could add staffers of the defunct Daily News who are fully functional,
unaccredited. Using Sydney Masamvu, Sezani Weza and MDC's Luke Tambolinyoka,
this Anglo-American operation is running a whole host of ghost sites and
ghost reporters who include the likes of Frank Chikowore and Brian Hungwe,
buttressed by a phalanx of cameramen.

And, of course, Luke runs errands for Roy Bennett."


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Red Cross launches cholera appeal

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=8743

December 12, 2008

By Our Correspondent

LONDON- The British Red Cross has launched an appeal to help thousands of
people in Zimbabwe and across Southern Africa affected by cholera and
chronic food shortages.

According to UN figures, cholera has claimed almost 800 lives and affected
16,000 people in Zimbabwe.

The British Red Cross said its programme would not be confined to Zimbabwe.

In Angola, almost 10,000 people had been affected by the disease and 229
people killed, Mozambique has registered more than 8,000 cases and 93 deaths
while South Africa has seen almost 400 cases and five deaths, the
organisation said.

"The rainy season is coming and we know from experience that rains are an
aggravating factor for cholera," said Di Moody, British Red Cross programme
support officer for Southern Africa.

"Continued efforts are needed to make sure the disease is not allowed to run
out of control.

"This means providing immediate aid for those currently affected and
widespread hygiene education to prevent new cases from breaking out. People
in Zimbabwe and across the region are still facing a very real risk and it
is vital that this risk is addressed as quickly as possible."

The British Red Cross said fund raised would be used to supply emergency
relief through community-based health, water, sanitation and hygiene
projects, delivering aid and education to those most in need across the
region.

The Red Cross has been on the ground in Zimbabwe since the beginning of the
cholera epidemic, focusing largely on public education.

Cholera is a treatable and curable disease, but people need to know the
simple steps they can take to minimise or even eliminate risk of the
disease.

The Red Cross said its volunteers had so far reached more than 11,000 people
in seven provinces with health and hygiene messages.

Funds had also been used to provide cholera kits and water purification
equipment, which are being distributed to affected communities.

To give to the British Red Cross Zimbabwe & Region Appeal visit
www.redcross.org.uk/zimbabweregion or call 0845 054 7200. Postal donations
can be sent to British Red Cross, UKO, 44 Moorfields, London, EC2Y 9AL


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ETDs suspended over banditry claims

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=8734

December 11, 2008

By Our Correspondent

BULAWAYO - The government has suspended issuing emergency travel documents
(ETDs) allegedly for fears disillusioned Zimbabweans might be recruited in
neighbouring countries to be trained as bandits to topple President Robert
Mugabe.

The Registrar General's department has also suspended processing ordinary
passports on the same allegations, authoritative sources working at the
government passport processing office told The Zimbabwe Times.

"We have suspended issuing emergency travel documents unless on serious
proven medical grounds," said the source. "The officials say that this is
meant to prevent people getting the travel documents to go and train as
bandits in neighbouring countries."

The move comes amid growing calls for the removal of Mugabe from power in
the face of a humanitarian crisis which has resulted in food shortages and a
cholera outbreak.

Cholera has killed over 800 Zimbabweans and spilled over to neighbouring
countries like South Africa.

Botswana has led regional calls for the removal of Mugabe, with Kenyan prime
minister, Raila Odinga calling for a military invasion of the country.

Diplomatic tensions between Zimbabwe and Botswana have deteriorated in
recent months. Mugabe and the government have responded by accusing Botswana
of training militias to topple the 84-year-old leader.

Botswana denies the charges but the Mugabe government has maintained the
allegations, prompting the regional bloc, the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) to dispatch its organ on security for a fact-finding
mission in the neighbouring country.

"The emergency travel documents that are issued on medical grounds are
mainly for special cases like medical operations while on a few cases they
have to be supported by documents from the hospital," an official at the
Registrar-General's ffice in Bulawayo said.

"The suspension in the processing of the travel documents is based on belief
amongst government officials that neighbouring countries like Botswana are
harbouring MDC bandits," he said.

"It is said that to stop those countries recruiting the alleged bandits, the
processing of travel documents has to be suspended."

When contacted for comment, Home Affairs Minister, Kembo Mohadi, however,
blamed Western sanctions for the suspension of processing of travel
documents.

"There is no material to process the documents because of the illegal
sanctions. I am busy right now," Mohadi said before he switched off his
mobile phone.

Repeated efforts to obtain a comment from Tobaiwa Mudede, the
Registrar-General were fruitless. The Bulawayo Provincial Registrar, Willard
Sayenda, was also not available for comment.

However, the Zimbabwe Times crew that visited the Register General's office
in Bulawayo was also told of the suspension of the processing of travel
documents.

"We are not sure when we will start processing the travel documents," a
worker at the Registrar-General's office said.

Last month, an office of the Registrar-General in Bulawayo was forced to
suspend the production of plastic identity cards (IDs) citing lack foreign
currency to purchase polythene material used in the production of the
documents.

Plastic ID cards were introduced in November 2004 to replace metal identity
cards which had become extremely expensive for the broke government to
produce as a result of the foreign currency shortages.


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Victims of Zimbabwean diamond crackdown to be dumped in mass grave

http://www.timesonline.co.uk

The Times
December 13, 2008

Jan Raath in Mutare
Nearly 80 people apparently murdered by the Zimbabwean Army in its campaign
to take control of a diamond field near the eastern city of Mutare are to be
dumped in a mass grave.

A telephone call on Thursday from the top government official in the
district to the city's deputy mayor is the firmest evidence yet of reported
massacres in the Chiadzwa diamond fields in the past month.

Admire Mukovera, deputy mayor in Mutare - where the city council is
controlled by the opposition MDC - said yesterday that the district
administrator had called him to "ask for space for a mass grave for 78
people who were killed in Chiadzwa". Mr Mukovera added: "He never mentioned
who killed them [but] obviously it is the army and police because they are
the only people allowed to go there. "He told me [the bodies] were in the
mortuary but I don't know which one - there is nothing in the Mutare general
hospital's mortuary."

There have been widespread accounts of the killings from survivors emerging
from the area, which has been sealed off with military roadblocks and
troops. Those who live in the region say that anyone attempting to enter
Chiadzwa is arrested and possibly tortured and killed.

Survivors have spoken of machinegun attacks by helicopter as well as police
and army troops shooting at and setting dogs on civilians.
Police had tried repeatedly to drive off thousands of diggers and panners
from the hot, arid landscape, but with little effect because so many
officers were easily bribed with diamonds. Since the army was deployed last
month, however, the area "is just about cleared", Mr Mukovera said.

In his telephone call, the government official, named as Mr Mashava, also
said allegedly that there are "another five people who died of cholera that
they want to put in the mass grave", according to Mr Mukovera.

Pishai Muchauraya, the MDC's district spokesman, said President Mugabe's
regime was trying to hide its "murderous activities" by dumping its victims
in mass graves. "The council must not give them ground until the facts and
figures are made public and the circumstances of the murder of 78 people are
known," he said. Mr Mashava did not respond to attempts to contact him.

The diamond mine was the property of London-based Africa Consolidated
Resources until the Government seized it last year and drove off the
workforce. Shortly afterwards a Zanu (PF) official went on state television
to urge ordinary people to go there and harvest the diamonds.

Tens of thousands descended on the area to dig for diamonds, which are not
far below the surface. Late last year the Government decided to reassert
control. In May reports emerged of appalling police brutality as they
cleared people out.

Mr Mugabe's Government accused Britain, the former colonial power, of
causing a genocidal cholera epidemic. "Cholera is a calculated racist attack
on Zimbabwe by the former colonial power so that they can invade the
country," a spokesman said.


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Failed States, Cholera, and ‘Preventive Action’

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com
 
December 12, 2008, 2:59 pm
burial plot in zimbabweA child leaves a burial plot for cholera victims in Zimbabwe. (The New York Times)

Celia Dugger’s stunning descriptions of the unfolding cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe brought to mind issues raised at the “Center for Preventive Action Symposium” at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York Tuesday. There, specialists in the world’s most turbulent regions held forth with a menu of ways the Obama administration might blunt, if not avert, crises with preventive action.

One discussion centered on creating an international mechanism for humanitarian intervention when a malfunctioning nation’s leadership fails to address a building crisis like the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe, or when it consciously abuses its people by conducting or abetting mass killings. There was no clear path to establishing such a protocol, although those at the meeting appeared to agree that the United Nations Security Council, in its current form at least, would never be the vehicle given the veto power of states dead-set against anything resembling outside interference in internal affairs.

But when the world watches avoidable disasters unfolding in plain sight, what should be done?

With global media and Web connectedness, everyone — to some extent — bears witness to starvation or genocide or the like. Awareness comes with responsibility.

Still, in the long history of nation states, and given human beings’ persistent tribal tendencies, when does an outside institution, however well intentioned, have the right to intervene in another country? Who decides which interventions are moral and “right,” and which are not justified? There is a fundamental tension with us, still, between the rights of individuals (or individual states) and of the larger community (or community of nations). This was at the heart of my recent post on the enduring dream of global-scale thinking and action, with extends from Darwin through Havel and on through Bill and Melinda Gates’ view that all lives have equal value.

How this plays out will certainly help determine how many bumps there are in the road toward 9 billion people seeking a decent life. At the meeting, former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright proposed an intermediate step through which rich countries could help speed the progress of poorer ones, creating new ways citizens can serve overseas to help foster freedom, economic development, and improve lives.

She summarized that thought quite simply: “There is a vast gap between the Marine Corps and the Peace Corps. We need to fill that gap….” Read her prepared remarks.


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Zimbabwe 'Government' now a serial human rights violator - ROHR Statement on human rights day


RESTORATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS ZIMBABWE

 

12 December 2008

 

 Dignity and justice for all of us," on the occasion of the International Human rights day 10 December 2008

"It is our duty to ensure that these rights are a living reality, that they are known, understood and enjoyed by everyone, everywhere. It is often those who most need their human rights protected, who also need to be informed that the Declaration exists and that it exists for them"..

                                                                      UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (2007)

 

ROHR Zimbabwe joins the rest of the world in commemorating the International Human Rights Day. It is the day when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted in Paris on the 10th of December in 1948. We salute those who struggle to defend, protect and promote the fundamental freedoms that are the birthright of all mankind, regardless of race, sex, religion, political affiliation and ethnicity. Today, as we honour and commemorate that historic document, the values it enshrines and our ongoing effort to restore a culture of human rights, Zimbabwe is sinking deeper in chaos and experiencing increased human rights violations. In fact, the State has become a serial human rights violator.

 

It is the State's duty and responsibility to make provision for the right mechanisms and create platforms that promote and protect the citizens from abuses of all kind that spring from  failed socio-economic and political systems such as Zimbabwe is experiencing today. It remains incumbent for every Government to take personal the custody of the principles of the bill of rights, introduce legislation and policies that act to compliment and not to stand averse to the universal rights of every person in the world. Part of this, entails that the authorities should act responsibly, being conscious that violating any of the people's rights will trigger the domino effect, whereby, a single violation of any of the protected rights will lead to other affronts on rights, which consequently degenerates the nation into a human rights disaster.

 

The inter elections period of 2008 left Zimbabweans disenfranchised, robbed at gun point, of their fundamental right to vote which is not only protected in the bill we are celebrating, but the Zimbabwean constitution. This worsened the governance and legitimacy crisis that has been in existence since the 2000 disputed elections. Human rights violations are aggravated by the obvious show of apathy to people's lives and welfare, misplaced priorities where state resources are channelled at the retention and perpetuation of power by Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF de-fancto Government, whilst neglecting the ordinary people to grapple with the worst humanitarian crisis ever to hit the Southern African country on their own. 

 

Poverty and hunger is threatening millions of lives in Zimbabwe and according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, more than 5, 1 million people will be in need of food aid in January. Millions of people are fleeing from the country in pursuit of happiness and means of survival in other countries. Even still, the State is violating peoples' right to food by imposing red tapes to deny the hungry populace in towns and rural areas access to food aid by international relief agencies and Non-Governmental organisations.  

 

Close to 1000 people have died of cholera, an easily preventable and curable disease, simply because the political will and resources are prioritised on other things apart from saving lives. Furthermore the responsible authorities are keen on covering up the extent of casualties thereby making international intervention for the disaster difficult. The health care delivery system has crumbled due to severe shortage of drugs, equipment and staff to provide health services to citizens of this country. The right to education and health have almost been transformed to privileges only available to the elite and because they have become either very unavailable or expensive.

Despite the signing of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) between ZANU PF and the two MDC formations on 15 September 2008, an agreement which candled the light of hope that the long protracted culture of violence, lawlessness and political repression could finally abate, Zanu PF still uses unorthodox and unconstitutional tactics of silencing dissent and intimidating opposition and human rights activists. Ms Jestina Mukoko, a former journalist and the director of Zimbabwe Peace Project was abducted from her home on 3 December 2008. MDC has reported that 18 of its activists were abducted and are still missing. This trend is reminiscent of the violence that preceded the widely discredited June 27 presidential election runoff which left hundreds killed, thousands with injuries and hundreds of thousands homeless, a clear sign that human rights almost always will play second fiddle to political expediency in Zimbabwe.

 

For the sakes of the millions of Zimbabweans who still hope to embrace the change that will drastically reduce human rights violations, who look forward to the day when freedom of speech, expression, and association are not criminalised by illegal legislation, when it will be okay with the government for one to hold a political opinion of choice without fear of victimisation, when no one will be abducted by state agencies for being a human rights activist or a member of the opposition, we call for a paradigm shift in the thinking of politicians. The state should stop the abductions that are currently underway and remove surveillance on all opposition and human rights activists now.

 

Therefore as Zimbabwe joins other nations to celebrate the signing of the bill of rights, hard work remains ahead of us for the dream that propelled and compelled the heads of States that signed the document to finally become reality. It will take more than just waiting for the calibre of the right leaders to come and implement the charter, nor the mere setting up of systems to that effect which can easily be manipulated for disastrous ends. It will take more than just hopeful citizens that their rights will finally come into place. Importantly it will take courage, conviction, the drive, and the urgency shared by both stakeholders Governments and people to become joint custodians of its precepts, both parties using means within their power to promote and protect their rights.

 

Inserted by the Information Department:

Restoration of Human Rights Zimbabwe

P.O Box 8719, Harare              

Email:rohrzimbabwe@gmail.com

Website: www.rorhzimbabwe.org

Tel: +263 4 744593

Mobiles: +263 912 426638, +263 912 713410

 

Vigil co-ordinator

 

The Vigil, outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, 429 Strand, London, takes place every Saturday from 14.00 to 18.00 to protest against gross violations of human rights by the current regime in Zimbabwe. The Vigil which started in October 2002 will continue until internationally-monitored, free and fair elections are held in Zimbabwe. http://www.zimvigil.co.uk

 

 

 


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Fifa says Zim not safe for supporters

From The Cape Argus (SA), 10 December

Clayton Barnes

Fifa has discouraged football supporters from setting up base in Zimbabwe
during the 2010 World Cup if the economic and cholera crises persist. Fifa
spokesperson Delia Fischer told the Cape Argus Fifa was monitoring the
situation but doubted Zimbabwe would form part of its 2010 plans. She said
Fifa and Match Hospitality, their official hospitality partner, were working
with South Africa's neighbours to see how supporters could be given a "truly
African experience", including tours to Namibia, Zambia, Mozambique and
Botswana, but not Zimbabwe at this stage. She said all 32 World Cup teams
would be based in South Africa "as we are busy ensuring this country has the
infrastructure and is safe enough to host the teams. However, we will be
monitoring the Zimbabwe situation," she said. There have been reports that a
company contracted by Zimbabwe's National Social Security Authority and the
Rainbow Tourism Group to develop a hotel at Beit Bridge, had been forced to
suspend operations following the cholera outbreak. When the Cape Argus tried
calling the Rainbow Tourism Group in Zimbabwe on Monday, their telephones
just rang and their website was down. Michael Tatalias, of the Southern
African Tourism Services Association (Satsa), said it was unlikely that
supporters would consider visiting Zimbabwe if the situation persists. He
said Zimbabwe was one of the main reasons visitor numbers to the region had
dropped.


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Cholera , World Soccer Cup & ANC

Sent: Friday, December 12, 2008 8:52 PM
Subject: Cholera , World Soccer Cup & ANC

SA runs the risk of losing the world cup because of cholera in Zimbabwe.

The problem is that the ANC is very protective of Mugabe regime where people are now dying like flies in Zimbabwe.

I am part of a team in the UK who will travel to FIFA head quartes to present the videos of cholera outbreaks in Zim and Musina. And we will make sure that we also show them videos on how easy it is to get from Zim to SA illegally.

Also we are emailing and faxing all soccer loving countries about the danger of participating in the 2010 with this cholera outbreak.

We are doing this beacuse we realize that it is SA that always blocks UN security council in dealing swiftly with Mugabe.

Below is FIFA's contact info.Please contact E-mail FIFA so that they can put pressure to SA.

http://www.fifa.com/contact/form.html

Also below is a list of influential organisations that need to be told of our campaign.Feel free to copy this short article and email as many institutes or contacts that will be concerned.

info@nia.gov.za
info@dpe.gov.za
makhubelal@foreign.gov.za
phashk@health.gov.za
mavas@dwarf.gov.za
portia.molefe@dpe.gov.za
contactus@thedti.gov.za
ntsalubaa@foreign.gov.za
mqadin@health.gov.za
response@saps.org.za
communications@dha.gov.za
leratoz@po.gov.za
nkadimengd@bdfm.co.za
www.sa2010.gov.za/contact
voyager@flysaa.com
williamstc@saps.gov.za
rose@digiquest.co.za
vanblerkn@sabc.co.za
patrick@cosatu.org.za
webdesk@southafricahouse.com
southafrica@bigmedia.co.za
themba.wakashe@dac.gov.za
nandipha@cosatu.org.za
Mantshele.Tau@dha.gov.za
ancwl@anc.org.za
joe@srsa.gov.za
pbrink@nia.gov.za
manase@srsa.gov.za
sacg@southafrica-newyork.net
enquiries@tourismgrading.co.za
info@saembassy.org

Play your part and pick any two emails and email register your concern.

Extreme situations call for extreme measures.

Enough Is Enough.

Sipho Sibanda
Manchester , UK.


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A letter from the diaspora

http://www.cathybuckle.com

12th December 2008

Dear Friends.
Perhaps it is the tinted glasses that Mugabe is wearing these days that
blind him to what is going on in the country he purports to rule. His
declaration that "Cholera has been arrested" - nice choice of words there! -
flies in the face of the facts. "If anything is certain in the chaos of
Zimbabwe today it is that the cholera outbreak is not under control" says
Save the Children Director. As the WHO announces the death toll from cholera
at nearly 800, Mr Mugabe blithely assures the crowd gathered for the funeral
of Elliot Manyika - another 'Hero' for Heroes Acre - that the cholera cause
doesn't exist anymore. What is more he claims, it is his government, his
doctors who have worked this miracle with the help of WHO. But it is not the
appalling suffering of the people that is of paramount concern to Mugabe;
what is really worrying him is the threat of military intervention. No
cholera, no cause for invasion goes his argument.

Zimbabweans would not have been surprised by Mugabe's rhetoric at the
funeral for the late unlamented Manyika. All week long his side kicks in
government have been telling anyone who would listen that the situation was
under control. "We have enough chemicals to purify the water. We have got
enough foreign currency to buy pipes" announced Sikhanyiso Ndlovu on
Wednesday. If that is true then why don't they just go ahead and do it we
wonder? Why was the regime trying so hard to conceal the terrible truth of
the cholera outbreak from the world. They know only too well that once the
pictures of children playing in raw sewage and cholera victims with drips
attached in dirty clinics and hospitals were beamed round the world, the
international community would respond. It was not compassion for the
victims, not pity for the dying children that the regime was concerned
about, it was the world-wide call for military intervention that had the
Mugabe regime rattled. With the usual breath-taking Zanu illogicality Ndlovu
went on to claim, "After squeezing and strangling the country with sanctions
and contaminating it with cholera and anthrax, the west is seeking to use
the window of opportunity provided by the disaster to justify military
intervention." Ndlovu was simply laying the ground for his master. Even the
eventual declaration of cholera as a National Emergency had little to do
with stopping the people's suffering; above all it was a way of getting the
international community to fund the government's absolute failure to care
for their own people. Cholera does not respect political divisions, it does
not discriminate between Zanu and MDC supporters' it targets the poorest of
the poor, the malnourished, the already sick from Aids and above all the
children. Yet Mugabe says nothing of them; it is the attack on his own power
base that worries him when the call goes out for military intervention.
Watching him speak at Heroes Acre, seeing the banners proclaiming 'Brown's
Cholera' it was not hard to sense his terror at what it would mean for him
if the west carried out their threats. The very real prospect of his own
downfall is staring him in the face; compared to that not even the prospect
of hundreds of cholera deaths matters. He is fighting for survival and like
a cornered rat he becomes ever more vicious as the end comes nearer.

Mugabe's problem is that no matter how hard he tries he can no longer
conceal from the world the depth of the suffering his regime has wrought on
the Zimbabwean people. Not a day has passed this week without the world's
media covering some aspect of the Zimbabwean tragedy. The plight of the
missing MDC activists and Jestina Mukoko in particular has featured in mass
appeals to human rights activists around the world to raise their voices in
protest at Mugabe's appalling human rights record. His regime may ignore
court orders to the police to mount a search for the disappeared; the ZTV
may ignore a court order to flight adverts showing Jestina as a Missing
Person but he cannot hide the tragedy from the world. Only last night on
British TV we saw Zimbabwean lawyers marching with their banners to protest
the political abductions. We saw the brave Woza women once again
demonstrating in Bulawayo and Harare where they managed to surprise the
police who arrived too late with their water canons. Water! Now where did
that come from we wondered and had the water been treated or was this yet
another diabolical plot to rid the country of these troublesome Woza women.
Imprisonment doesn't stop them from coming out on the streets, why not spray
them with cholera infected water? Is that possible even for Zanu PF, I
wonder? I keep thinking about Didymus Mutasa's words when the SADC Tribunal
found in favour of the 75 white farmers . "There is nothing special about
the 75 farmers" he said. But there is something special about them, not
because they are white but because they are human beings. It is that basic
humanity that seems to have been lost in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe where
people have become no more than pawns in his political power games and not
even children are exempted. What other explanation is there for the
government's decision today, Friday, to refuse visas to a group of French
water specialists if it is not that President Sarkozy has joined the chorus
of world leaders calling for Mugabe's ouster if necessary by military means?
Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH.


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Zim government has lost charge


By James D. McGee

President George W. Bush recently denounced the illegitimate Mugabe regime and once again called for a government that would end repression and express the will of the Zimbabwean people. On March 29, the citizens of Zimbabwe voted decisively to change their leaders. They demanded better government. Yet their demands have been largely ignored by the losers of the election, which is why the President called this regime illegitimate. However, the Mugabe regime continues to forfeit its legitimacy on a daily basis by failing to meet the most basic obligation of a government – to care for its people.

Governments are created to protect and care for their citizens.  The current regime has largely abdicated this responsibility. Today the work of caring for the many suffering Zimbabweans has fallen to the international community. I am proud of the leading role the United States is playing in this regard, but we should not lose sight of the fact that we are doing what the Government of Zimbabwe should do, but chooses not to do.

In the past year the U.S. has provided over US$218 million in humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwe. We are the leading food donor, providing US$211 million in food commodities to address this food emergency.  The United States provides nearly 70 percent of all international food aid distributed in Zimbabwe through NGOs and the UN World Food Program.  We spent nearly US$30 million last year on HIV/AIDS programs, in addition to paying for 33 percent of the Global Fund’s programs. We are currently putting into place an additional US$600,000 in emergency aid to combat the cholera epidemic currently devastating Zimbabwe.

What is the Mugabe regime doing? It is buying hundreds cars so that every minister and governor can have multiple vehicles.  It is buying plasma televisions for judges.  It is stifling the private sector so that mines and factories are forced to close, laying off workers, while harassing the nongovernmental organizations that try to provide support to suffering Zimbabweans. The widespread hunger in Zimbabwe, the cholera epidemic and the collapse of education and health care systems are not the result of any targeted sanctions.  These disastrous failures result from decisions by a few Zimbabwean leaders to put personal interests ahead of the public interest. Instead of spending scarce resources on water purification chemicals that might stop the cholera epidemic, they are manipulating currency to make a personal profit. Instead of ensuring that hospitals and clinics remain open, staffed and supplied, they enjoy lives of luxury in gated compounds. Instead of paying teachers a living wage so that the next generation can learn, they fly around the world on shopping sprees. In the meantime, their people suffer and die.

The United States is committed to continuing to support the people of Zimbabwe with food, medical supplies, water and sanitation improvements, and whatever else is needed to save lives and reduce suffering. I only wish the illegitimate leaders of this country would find the same compassion and commitment for their own people. I challenge the leaders of this country to set aside their personal greed and commit to spending even a quarter of what the U.S. and other donors will spend this year to meet the humanitarian needs of Zimbabwe’s citizens. 

The amount of aid the U.S. gives Zimbabwe is openly available. The Mugabe regime should open its books and tell the world how much it is spending on the people of Zimbabwe, and how much they are spending on luxury vehicles, the campaign of brutal violence against their own people, and the desperate struggle to stay in power at all costs.

The bottom line is that the so-called leaders of this country need to stop feeding their insatiable greed and take care of the poor and deserving Zimbabweans languishing because of this corruption. Up to 5 million people will need food aid in the coming months. Over 15,500 have suffered from cholera, with 746 deaths, and the epidemic is just starting. Untold thousands have suffered or died because they cannot access medical care. We remain ready to help. However, right now the international community isn’t just helping; we’re being forced to lead by the Mugabe regime’s criminal negligence. It’s time for the Mugabe regime to take responsibility for these problems it has created, and fix them.

Zimbabweans deserve better. They have asked for better through their votes. How long must they suffer before their Government responds?

James D. McGee is U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe # # #

PAS Note: This article was originally published in The Zimbabwe Independent on Friday December 12, 2008. Url: http://www.thezimbabweindependent.com.

Also note that less than a week after giving $600,000 to help the Zimbabwe government and international donors get control of a deadly cholera epidemic that has killed more than 800 people since August, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced that it will contribute another $6.2 million to the effort. See http://harare.usembassy.gov for further details.

 


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A view from inside Zimbabwe

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/8190

By Tim Nafziger
12 Dec 2008

In recent days and weeks Zimbabwe has wrestled its way back into the news
with reports of over 600 dead of Cholera and as many as 60,000 cases feared
in coming weeks. Inflation is so high that at restaurants you pay before the
meal because the food will cost more when you finish. Unpaid soldiers are
looting and rioting in the streets.

Last week I was part of a gathering to hear from Arthur Mutambara, the
leader of the smaller faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC),
one of two opposition parties currently in negotiation with the Zanu PF, the
governing party. On 15 September 2008, the two parties signed a power
sharing agreement that, if ratified, will make Robert Mugabe president,
Morgan Tsvangirai (leader of the larger MDC faction) prime minister and
Mutambara deputy prime minister.

Mutambara sees the power sharing agreement as the only path forward for
Zimbabwe. In a country deeply traumatized by the violence before the 27 June
election, a coalition government, Mutambara said, would offer the stability
for a national healing process, a return to economic stability and could
oversee the process for fair elections.

"We cannot wish away Mugabe," Mutambara said. "He has the presidency in his
hands and the power that goes with it." The economic crisis alone is not
enough to topple Mugabe and the country is far too traumatized for an
uprising, violent or otherwise. It very painful to imagine an election, let
alone a free and fair one. In any election held now, traumatized voters
would re-elect Mugabe.

With a negotiated settlement the only solution, the only question becomes:
when? Mutambara was clearly impatient with the slow pace at which the
negotiation process is moving. "The choice is whether to end the suffering
[of Zimbabweans] sooner or later," he said. "Politics are the art of the
possible"

Mutambara brings a wide range of experience with him. He started as a
student leader against Mugabe in the late 80's. He went on to receive his
PhD in Rocket Science and taught as a professor of business strategy at
Northwestern University. In 2003, he took a position as CEO of the Africa
Technology and Business Institute based in Johhannesburg.

In February 2006, Mutambara was elected president of a breakaway faction of
the MDC that favored participation in the March 2005 parliamentary election.
One of the other differences highlighted by Mutambara at the time was their
perspectives on land reform.

The focus of the recent discussion I and others had with him was not only on
the future of Zimbabwe, but also on an examination of what has gone wrong in
the last few months.

Africans outside of Zimbabwe were horrified by the awful campaign leading up
to the 27 June election. It did inestimable economic damage to regional
groups. The heads of state in Mozambique, Botswana, Angola, Namibia,
Tanzania and Madagascar spoke out strongly for change after the sham
election. All but two have gone back to being quiet.

What has silenced them? Part of the problem, Mutambara said, has been
"brazen and naive" grandstanding by the British and American governments.
Their actions have played to Mugabe's image of himself as an
anti-imperialist. Heads of state in the region are well aware of the history
of US and British intervention and have grown hesitant to speak out to
strongly in favor of an opposition that appears too chummy with the US
embassy. Without African Union on board, he said, there will be no one with
the moral authority to bring Zimbabwe to the UN.

"The lack of strategic thinking by America undermines our struggle. [Western
countries] should speak to the Africans and let them take a frontal role,"
Mutambara said. "Mugabe is only talking to us now because after the June 27
election, African leaders in the region spoke out. So we must make sure we
don't lose [the support of] Africa again" American statements don't count
for much because of history and location. Given the choice between the US
and Britain, African leaders think "Better the devil you know."

What does good pressure look like? Mutambar holds out South Africa's
decision over two weeks ago to withhold aid from Zimbabwe as a positive
example. The South African government said they would withhold aid until a
legitimate representative government was in place. In their view Mugabe is
not the legitimate president until the 15 September agreement is ratified
and he is sworn in.

I was very impressed by both Mutambara's conviction, passion and his warmth.
During the question time he responded very graciously and effectively to
strongly skeptical questions from the audience.

Mutambara as very clear where the responsibility for change in Zimbabwe
lies. "Gone are the days of passing the buck [to the West]. We are the
creators of our own situation. We must take responsibility for our own
problems." Mutambara said "Gone are the days of slavery, colonialism and
neo-colonialism." These forces are still at work, he acknowledged, but they
are not the dominant factors. "We are the agents of our own change" he
added.

With the incoming administration of Barack Obama in the United States,
Mutambara doesn't expect a change in US foreign policy, but hopes for more
nuance and tact in the way it is carried out.

What can we do? Mutambara acknowledged that the pressure China put on
Zimbabwe after international outcry in the lead up to the Olympics was
effective. In late April China recalled a ship full of weapons bound for
Zimbabwe after workers out a South African port refused to unload it. Mugabe
can't go against China or South Africa, Mutambara said. "We are completely
dependent on them economically."

The World Cup in 2010 in South Africa could be a lever for pressuring South
Africa to help stabilize Zimbabwe. So we need to emphasize that it is in the
long term and broader interests of South African corporations to have a
stable Zimbabwe.

As for the role Mutambara plays, he sees himself as an independent voice in
a highly polarized environment. Because he is the leader of a smaller third
party, he has less at stake then the larger faction of the MDC and the
Zanu-PF. The situation in Zimbabwe right now is very binary and polarized:
Are you with the saint or the devil? More nuance is needed in political
discussion. A multi-party system is needed.

Mutambara also talked about the critical role of civil society in Zimbabwe.
The MDC was built on the labor movement. Because of their strong engagement,
the 27 June repression targeted church leaders, women's group leaders, labor
leaders and lawyers. "We must make sure we maintain civil society as
independent from political parties."

When asked what message he would send to the churches, he focused on the
importance of building self-sustaining community projects in Zimbabwe.

As the evening drew to a close, someone asked Mutambara "What would be your
message to churches?" Sending food is too easy, he said, development needs
to enable communities to feed themselves. He also cited micro-lending
programs that focus on loans to women. Mutambara said, "Imagination and
creativity are very important as you seek to assist Zimbabwe"

----------

(c) Tim Nafziger works for Christian Peacemaker Teams. This interview is
adapted from his blog at Young Anabaptist Radicals with grateful thanks:
http://young.anabaptistradicals.org/. It also appears in The Mennonite:
http://www.themennonite.org/


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Hot Seat (AUDIO): Interview with Prime Minister designate Morgan Tsvangirai

 
SW Radio Africa
 
Hot Seat: Interview with Prime Minister designate Mr Morgan Tsvangirai
 
Broadcast 12 December 2008
 
On the programme, Hot Seat, Violet Gonda's guest is MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai. The Prime Minister designate says Robert Mugabe has lost his mind and that calling him a ‘prostitute’ was indecent and ‘un-African’. Mr Tsvangirai also gives his position on the power sharing deal, military intervention, abductions and his current whereabouts.  
 
(click on links below or copy and paste to web browser to listen to audio file)
 
mms://swradioafrica.streamuk.com/swradioafrica_archive/hotseat121208.wma
 
 
OR for MAC users: 
 
 
 
 
TRANSCRIPT WILL BE SENT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
 


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Is Mbeki being black mailed ?



As we are about to enter a new year 2009
Zimbabwe is looking more and more like an episode of Ground Hog Day where
the same stories keep happening time and time again.

Back in March 2000 before the last general election this is what was
happening on the ground.

(Zimbabwe is on the brink of a total economic collapse and facing a serious
national crisis. The facts are simple. Twenty years ago Zimbabwe was a self
sufficient country that could support itself and was a food exporting
nation. After twenty years of one party rule, mismanagement, incompetence,
and corruption, by the Government, Zimbabwe is dependent upon foreign aid,
imports food, and is no longer able to sustain the import of its basic
energy or raw material requirements. Businesses are faced with the prospect
of closure. The President is actively encouraging the rule of anarchy in his
bid to remain in power.) Published March 2000.

Nine years down the line what has changed nothing!

We would all like Mugabe to retire and go but who really is to blame?

 In my view it is MBEKI.

This man has been the chief negotiator appointment by SADAC for over ten
years and what has he done nothing, how can he look himself in the mirror
every day and not feel sick. Why has he been allowed to carry on with
negotiation when he is clearly on ZANU side? I always thought a negotiator
should be neutral.

The more I think about it, Mugabe regime most have something on him, why
would a man like Mbeki keep siding with Mugabe in the face of the
destruction he is bringing on Zimbabwe, if these negotiations had been going
on for a couple of years we could think that the slow action he is taking
will bear fruits one day, but it has been over ten years.

So if Mugabe is bribing him to stall the negotiation talks, it would have to
be vast sums for someone to be prepared to let millions die for their own
gain but I personally think it is fare more serious than that.

The only possible explanation for Mbeki lack of courage and his non extant
approach to these negotiations, the fact that he keeps defending Mugabe in
the face of atrocities committed by his regime is that Mugabe must have
something on him and must be black mailing him. It is the only possible
solution why an educated man like Mbeki keeps siding with Mugabe and backing
him up.

Any normal intelligent human being would see what terrible consequences
Mugabe has brought on his own country, it is so blatant that ZANU is
stealing from Zimbabwe that this regime is lining its pockets whilst million
starve or die.

Mugabe latest denial of the Cholera outbreak cracks me up, has he gone mad
is he not aware what his happening in Zim is he blind.
This is the moment for other African leaders to stand up and ask him to
account for his actions. People are being kidnapped. Tortured and killed and
still Mbeki defends him and from behind the scenes stops sanctions and
action from happening.

What Mugabe must have on Mbeki must be so terrible and chocking that even in
the face of all this death he does not dare to stand up to this corrupt
regime and condemns it.

Is Mbeki Gay? Does he like young boys? Has Mugabe got video or compromising
pictures of him? Zanu must have something on him, it is the only logical
explanation for why Mbeki does not take a firm stand against Mugabe over the
last ten years and has helped in the collapse of Zimbabwe.

So Mr. Mbeki if you are being black mailed why not come clean about your
secrets surely it is better that letting millions of people suffer because
you are ashamed of your actions, why have you not resigned from being the
chief negotiator and let some one with balls take over the process.

You have already been sacked as a failing president your standing in the
world is so low that the only humble course for you is to explain why you
have been siding with Mugabe for the last 10 years apologies and go.

You have blood on your hands.

As for South Africa just get rid of Robert Mugabe the world will be a better
place.

R


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Political poison sickening Zimbabwe

http://www.businessday.co.za

12 December 2008

Tiseke Kasambala

AS THE cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe spreads across regional borders,
southern African governments have come together to discuss a regional
strategy to stem the outbreak. But the cholera outbreak and other emergency
conditions are symptoms of the broader political crisis in Zimbabwe. There
will be no end to the suffering unless regional leaders acknowledge this
fact.

The world has watched this collapse as it has evolved. A recent Human Rights
Watch mission to Zimbabwe documented the abusive policies, corruption and
repressive governance that have led directly to the economic collapse,
humanitarian crisis and growing public desperation. Poor governance,
state-sponsored violence , intimidation and corruption have not only
prevented Zimbabwe's citizens from exercising their civil and political
rights but have also denied them their right to satisfy their most basic
social and economic needs - for food, health and clean water.

The lack of safe drinking water, which caused the cholera outbreak, is the
direct result of the government's economic mismanagement and poor
governance. Many Zimbabweans have not had access to water that meets even
basic sanitary requirements for almost a year now because of the poor
maintenance of delivery systems.

As for access to food, the state-sanctioned post-election violence not only
destroyed many granaries, but also led to much forced displacement, leaving
much of the population dependent on food assistance. Official interference
in the operations of humanitarian agencies that distribute food aid worsened
the crisis.

Southern African leaders need to recognise that the food and health crises
in Zimbabwe cannot be separated from the political crisis. People are not
only losing their political rights, they are dying of disease and hunger as
a direct result of the situation. Sadly, the indications are that regional
leaders continue to tiptoe around the problem.

With Robert Mugabe refusing to cede any meaningful executive power to the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the power-sharing agreement signed on
September 15 is no longer viable. The world hoped that the agreement would
lead to the end of his government's abusive practices, the formation of a
credible government of national unity and a gradual recovery in the country's
economic and social conditions.

However, southern Africa - SA in particular - has continued to hide behind
the failed efforts of its mediator, Thabo Mbeki. Mugabe has been left in the
driver's seat to continue with his abusive policies and practices, while
Mbeki chose a soft target, casting MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai as the more
intransigent party in the mediation process, and placed all the pressure on
him to end the political impasse.

Leaders of Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries continue
to push Tsvangirai to sign an agreement that would leave Mugabe in control
of repressive institutions of the state.

SADC leaders need to move beyond the mindset of a quick backroom political
fix that leaves Mugabe running critical institutions that have caused the
very policies which have led to Zimbabwe's food and health crisis.
International assistance in bringing an end to the current humanitarian
crisis may help Zimbabweans in the short term, but there can be no long-term
solutions unless repressive political institutions are dismantled and
abusive policies and corrupt practices are halted.

SADC leaders should exert concerted political pressure, insisting on a clear
political reform agenda that includes dismantling security structures and
reforming the police and other repressive institutions. An end to corruption
and human rights abuses are absolute requirements for a settlement of the
crisis. SADC leaders must not accept any deal short of that.

Until that happens, the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe - and its harmful
and spreading effect on the rest of the region - will continue.

*Kasambala is senior researcher on Zimbabwe for Human Rights Watch.


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Zimbabweans flee epidemic

From The Washington Times, 11 December

Geoff Hill

South Africa is bracing for a mass exodus of cholera victims from Zimbabwe
fleeing across the crocodile-infested Limpopo River in search of a doctor
and enough food to keep them alive. The journey is not easy. The Limpopo
River is moving faster now, swollen with early summer rains near its
headwaters 1,200 miles away. Would-be exiles take a bus to the Zimbabwe side
of the Beitbridge border post, but most have no papers, so they wait for
nightfall to traverse the river by foot miles upstream from the bridge.
During the day crocodiles can be seen resting on the banks. Clarence
Musonza, 19, a trainee teacher who graduated from high school in 2006 with
high marks in chemistry, math and English, speaks with the desperation
common to those fleeing the regime of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
Mr. Musonza made the crossing early Tuesday morning. He said he lost two
relatives to cholera and fears that the worse is still to come. "I left
Harare on Sunday and the bus had to stop after a few hours because it ran
out of [gasoline]. There is no fuel at garages, but the driver managed to
buy some on the black market," he said.

Zimbabwe declared a national emergency over a cholera epidemic and the
collapse of its health care system, and state media reported the government
is seeking more international help to pay for food and drugs to combat the
crisis, according to an Associated Press report from the capital, Harare.
"Our central hospitals are literally not functioning," Minister of Health
David Parirenyatwa said Wednesday at a meeting of government and
international aid officials, according to the state-run Herald newspaper.
South African officials estimate that at least a thousand people cross
illegally each night. Exile groups say the number could be double that, or
more. Like most of his fellow refugees, Mr. Musonza is impossibly thin, with
the veins on his arms standing out against the skin.

Distribution of food around Harare and other cities in Zimbabwe has
collapsed, and a loaf of bread - often imported from South Africa and
several days old - sells for $6. Vendors no longer accept local currency.
The same loaf in South Africa costs the equivalent of 75 cents. An estimated
3 million Zimbabweans already live in South Africa, a population that
swelled in recent years as farming in Zimbabwe collapsed, hyperinflation
made its currency worthless and now, lack of simple necessities such as soap
threatens to unleash an epidemic of medieval magnitude. The World Health
Organization (WHO) estimates that at least 14,000 people are ill with
cholera in Zimbabwe. But privately, officials admit that the 750 reported
deaths may be a fraction of the real number. Obtaining data from areas
beyond the main cities is difficult.

In Musina, a town about 10 miles inside South Africa, a temporary hospital
has been set up at the town fairgrounds to treat refugees arriving with
cholera and dysentery. South African Health Minister Barbara Hogan said she
is worried about the strain on local health facilities. Similar fears buffet
other nations that border Zimbabwe, namely Botswana and Mozambique, which
also receive large numbers of refugees. Matthew Cochrane, regional spokesman
for the Red Cross in Johannesburg, told The Washington Times that the
potential for a medical disaster in Zimbabwe was "on a scale we have not
seen in southern Africa for some years." "The lack of running water and
basic sanitation means that many people aren't able to take even simple
steps to protect themselves against the illness," he said. "The rains are
late this year, but are expected over the next fortnight, at which time
shallow wells and septic tanks will flood, with the high-density suburbs
particularly at risk of further serious outbreaks."

In Zimbabwean cities such as Harare and Bulawayo, running water that just
five years ago was pure enough to drink from the tap, now flows
intermittently and must be boiled before use. Lack of funds and the world´s
highest inflation rate has made it impossible for local authorities to
repair pumps or treat the water with chlorine. Health workers say that
without water, residents have been unable to use flush toilets and instead
relieve themselves in gullies, parks, under bridges and on any piece of
unoccupied land that offers the slightest privacy. It is feared that the
coming rains will dilute the human waste into a deadly swill, rich in
bacteria, that will spread cholera and dysentery across cities and towns.
Clinics have closed because there is no medicine, and most of the private
pharmacies have empty shelves. Mr. Cochrane said that while neighboring
states could easily treat such an outbreak, in Zimbabwe people did not even
have soap. "In most countries, cholera is not a serious problem and the
remedy centers on washing your hands and drinking lots of clean water to
avoid dehydration," he said. "In Zimbabwe, there is no clean water - often
no water of any kind in the taps - and all basic commodities, including
soap, are scarce and usually sold in foreign currency," he said.

In Washington, President Bush called on African leaders to pressure Mr.
Mugabe, 84, into leaving office. "As my administration has made clear, it is
time for Robert Mugabe to go," Mr. Bush said. Mr. Bush said that, beyond
humanitarian assistance, U.S. aid to the country would not resume until "a
legitimate government has been formed that reflects the results of the March
elections." Mr. Mugabe's Zanu PF has ruled the country since 1980. The party
lost elections in March to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change,
but Mr. Mugabe refused to hand over power. Talks aimed at a coalition
between the two parties have been deadlocked since September. At the
Beitbridge Border Post, Mr. Musonza said he plans to head to Musina and then
another 400 miles to Johannesburg. "At home people are dying and we know it
is going to get worse," he said. "I wanted to bring my mother, but my young
brother is sick so she stayed to look after him. My uncle died last week and
also his daughter."


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Time to eject Robert Mugabe

http://free.financialmail.co.za

12 December 2008

Editorial

Zimbabwe's destroyer, Robert Mugabe, must go. Now. He long ago ceased being
part of any solution to the crisis he has brought on his country - a crisis
that has now spilled across the country's borders in the deadly form of a
cholera epidemic. African clergymen have led a growing chorus of calls,
largely from the West, for his forcible eviction. Yet SA, the regional
economic giant and key to the solution, remains mute despite the negative
impact of a failed state next door.

The rot that is Zimbabwe today took hold within two years of the euphoria of
independence in 1980, when struggle hero and new prime minister Mugabe
unleashed his North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade on his aggrieved countrymen
in the south of the country. There was no attempt to convene a lekgotla, let
alone negotiate. Instead, the iron fist of Gukurahandi - the rain that
washes away the chaff - was used to crush Matebele dissidence and any hint
of a challenge by Joshua Nkomo's Zapu to rule by Zanu's Shona elite. An
estimated 20 000 people were butchered. Zanu and Zapu had both fought for
freedom against white minority rule. But democratic values and human rights
were effectively extinguished in Zimbabwe between 1982 and 1985. SA should
beware the dangers of "Zanufication" of the ruling ANC.

The fatal mistake - for which ordinary Zimbabweans as well as neighbouring
countries are now paying a high price in starvation, disease and refugees -
was that liberation supporters everywhere said nothing about Mugabe's
excesses. In particular, the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) - a rogues'
gallery of despots - turned a blind eye. Mugabe, a shrewd player of the
race/imperialism card, continued to be fêted as a champion of
anticolonialism. The newly formed regional grouping, the Southern African
Development Co-ordination Conference, focused solely on reducing the
sub-continent's dependence on apartheid SA: it showed no disapproval of
incipient dictatorship in Zimbabwe - which was given responsibility for the
region's food security! Zimbabwe was, after all, naturally endowed to become
the breadbasket of southern Africa. Mugabe had other priorities.

This week Harare declared a national emergency and appealed for
international aid in food and medicine - having earlier blamed Britain and
the US for the cholera outbreak. Cholera has so far claimed 600 lives
including that of seven South Africans and has hit other countries. SA
health officials in Musina have found cholera bacteria in the Limpopo River.

Mugabe's exit is long overdue. When men of the cloth such as Desmond Tutu
and Archbishop of York John Sentamu call for a head of state to be removed
by force if necessary, then the situation must be dire indeed.

How was Zimbabwe allowed to reach this point? While the West was told there
had to be African solutions to African problems, any chance of SA
intervention was stillborn after the Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha dismissed
Nelson Mandela as "the black president of a white country" - Mandela had
criticised the death of Ogoni rights activist Ken Sarowiwa at the hands of
the Nigerian regime. The OAU's successor, the African Union, though
committed to democratic rights and good governance, as well as the new
Southern African Development Community, has continued to be ambivalent about
Zimbabwe in the face of clear-cut violations of everything it stands for -
on paper at least. Excepting Botswana and Zambia, the rest are guilty of
moral cowardice. SA policy towards Mugabe under Thabo Mbeki was
inexplicable - there could be no advantage to SA in propping up Mugabe, who
strung Mbeki along like a ninc ompoop, with no intention whatsoever of
reaching a deal with Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC, which won the March general
elections. Ultimately, the problem has to be fixed inside Zimbabwe.

SA under Kgalema Motlanthe now has two options: do what John Vorster did to
pressure Ian Smith by cutting off fuel and supplies; or what Julius Nyerere
did by invading Uganda to overthrow the maniacal Idi Amin.

If the first doesn't work, perhaps the second is called for.


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Canadian NGOs have essential medications available for Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic



For Immediate Release - December 12th 2008

Ottawa -In the coming days Health Partners International of Canada (HPIC),
along with World Vision and the pharmaceutical company Bayer will be
airlifting a shipment containing medications to treat 20,000 people in
Zimbabwe affected by the cholera epidemic that has hit the country. Over 800
people have already been killed and a further 16,000 infected by this deadly
bacteria.

An additional allotment of antibiotics, enough to treat and save the lives
of 68,000 people, is also available to HPIC to send to Zimbabwe. Although
CIDA has so far blithely rejected helping to address this calamity they can,
with a small investment, save many lives by paying for the costs to send
these supplies by air.  The private sector, NGOs and individuals have
already come together to put to together the medical supplies and distribute
these life saving medications on the ground. Our government should step up
to the plate and assist this Canadian initiative. Time is of the essence.

To contact HPIC, make a donation, and support the shipment of medications to
address Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic, please call their Pointe Claire, Quebec
main office at 1-800-627-1787 or visit their website at www.hpicanada.ca
-30-

For more information:

Office of Dr. Keith Martin
(613) 996-2625
(250) 474-6505


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The Cholera Effect And Mugabe's Isolation

http://www.ghanaian-chronicle.com/

Alex Magaisa

12 December 2008

AFTER all the human effort, indeed, after all the summits and
champagne-negotiations, the demonstrations and obscene violence, could it
really be that regional leaders in Southern Africa have been jolted into a
change of tone by a little, albeit, lethal creature?

It seems that this little parasite, the bacteria called Vibrio cholerae and
the debilitating ailment that it causes has introduced the "Cholera Effect"
into the seemingly intractable Zimbabwe problem.

As my friend Teri put it recently, "we may have just gone one diarrhoea too
far". Surely, the region can no longer pretend not to smell the odour coming
from the land between Zambezi and the Limpopo.

The public health implications for the region mean that self-interest will
require regional leaders to engage more actively beyond the dilly-dallying
of recent times.

When Zimbabweans screamed for help most regional leaders reacted as if they
were hallucinations from outer space. They reacted like the polite
son-in-law who upon finding himself alone with his mother-in-law in a
confined space senses an unusual and unpleasant atmospheric change but
nevertheless pretends nothing is amiss even though he knows very well that
only one person could have caused it.

And that he himself had not caused it but out of politeness, maintains a
dignified silence.

But the Rubicon has now been crossed. Now that Vibrio cholerae has entered
the scene, with its non-discriminatory effect, it has become imperative to
do something about the grave situation in Zimbabwe.

The little creature is, of course, a symptom of a greater problem; a
signification of the lacunae in the structure of governance in Zimbabwe;
that Zimbabwe does not actually have an operative government that is capable
and willing to provide social services to its people.

Hospitals are closing, drugs are hard to come by, the sanitary architecture
has broken down, schools are shutting down and food is scarce. There is no
proper government that is able to provide the basic services and resources
to the ordinary people.

Now, a couple of weeks after SADC issued a porous communiqué on November 9
2008, the language seems to be changing. In the last week, there have been
three key signals coming from South Africa that seem to indicate a seismic
transformation in approach.

For Mugabe and a Zanu PF regime that has been bleating about sanctions as
the cause of all the problems in Zimbabwe, the first would have come as a
very unpleasant surprise from South Africa's new president.

First, South Africa decided to withhold from Zimbabwe a financial package of
R300 million which it had promised in early November. That announcement had
been celebrated in Harare, the government interpreting it as an indication
of the seemingly perpetual entente cordiale between the two governments
which was prominent during the reign of President Thabo Mbeki.

That South Africa has now decided to withhold that support is tantamount to
imposing a mild form of sanctions against the Zimbabwe government. Friends
do not take away with one hand what they have offered with another.

What President Kgalema Mothlante has done is to offer a carrot with one hand
hoping perhaps for better behaviour on the part of the recipient but taken
away with another, itself an apparent stick with which to whip into line an
errant friend that continues to run amok leaving ordinary people in the
lurch.

This has a great deal of significance, it being a public admonishment of the
regime, behaviour which President Robert Mugabe has traditionally associated
with the West, on whom he shifts all responsibility for the country's ills.

The second was the loaded statement last weekend by President Motlanthe to
the effect that Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara must be sworn in to enable
them to start the business of forming an inclusive government.

Never mind the legal accuracy or otherwise of the statement, it carries
tremendous political weight in so far as the new administration in SA views
the Zimbabwe regime.

It says, quite simply, that SA does not, as yet, recognise Mugabe's
legitimacy. It suggests that the hurried swearing in of Mugabe after the
Pyrrhic victory in the June 27 one-horse race of a presidential run-off was
a political non-event.

Also notable were the words of South Africa's Health Minister, who said
recently when responding to questions about the cholera crisis in Zimbabwe
that there was not yet a recognised government in that country.

This appears to be reflective of the thinking within the new South African
government, that Zimbabwe does not have a legitimate government capable of
speaking on behalf of the people.

If this interpretation is correct then, surely, it represents a sea-change
in South Africa's approach toward Zimbabwe from the days of the Mbeki
presidency.

This must come as a devastating blow to Mugabe. He is very keen for his
legitimacy to be recognised and respected especially by those he regards as
regional allies and he would have been hurt very deeply by the new
pronouncements from Pretoria.

Third, is the more recent statement by Botswana's Foreign Minister Phandu
Skelemani who suggested in a BBC interview that regional countries ought to
"squeeze" the Zimbabwe government by closing their borders and completely
isolating it.

This is an ominous sign from a senior diplomat in the region, speaking as he
does, for his government which for long has challenged the legitimacy of the
Zimbabwe government.

The weight of Skelemani's statements is more apparent when viewed against
the background that they were made around the same time that Botswana's
President Ian Khama had just attended key meetings in South Africa.

There is an implication here that President Khama must have got sufficient
confidence from South Africa to speak in such tough tongues. Perhaps it's a
view that South Africa shares?

It shows that privately Sadc is as exasperated as are Zimbabweans with the
'see-saw politics' in Zimbabwe. It indicates that the region is frustrated
at the failure of the politics of persuasion, signified by quiet diplomacy,
which has so far failed to halt the unprecedented decline in Zimbabwe, a
decline that now threatens the region's health and safety.

The question now is whether and how Mugabe's regime will react to these
signals. There is every chance that with its fragile skin, the regime will
feel insulted and provoked, especially by the conduct of Botswana, a
neighbour that it traditionally regards as a military non-entity.

Recently, when President Khama called for new elections in Zimbabwe, Patrick
Chinamasa a senior Zanu PF official, called it "an act of extreme
provocation".

Later Botswana was accused of providing training bases for MDC militias,
allegedly to destabilise Zimbabwe although no evidence has been given to
substantiate the allegations.

Botswana has also offered to provide political asylum to Morgan Tsvangirai
should he need it. For a neighbouring country to offer sanctuary to the face
of Zimbabwe's struggle is a strong statement of condemnation.

Mugabe is, quite plainly, in a tight spot. Sadc did not give him the Carte
Blanche to form a government of his own choice. It has to be an Inclusive
Government and it cannot be so without Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur
Mutambara.

There are also signs of change in regional leaders approach. It has been
gradual, disappointing at first, but there are signs that the days of
appeasement may be in the past.

With Mbeki no longer a commanding force in the region, Mugabe must feel that
friends are few and so far away now.

Then again, you can never underestimate the reaction of a cornered cobra.

Alex Magaisa is based at, Kent Law School, the University of Kent

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