The Food Weapon
Why is there
hunger and near famine in Zimbabwe?
With the
politically induced food shortages in Zimbabwe we have the NGOs and other
well-wishers clambering to distribute food to the needy. Whilst this is highly
commendable (and expected) is it not just playing into the hands of the strategy
of a desperate political party?
Those that have
jobs have the money to buy food for themselves and their rural families, but
the staple diet of maize is just not available to buy. Do they therefore also
fall into the category of the starving people?
If the
commercial farmers (and their bankers) could see a return to law and order and
political stability they would have rallied to the call for urgent winter food
production. How could this be achieved when there is no stability and massive
looting and destruction of commercial farms?
The large
commercial millers are no longer being supplied with adequate supplies of
maize. Instead it is being distributed to small-scale millers, issued with
“special” licences and who are under total control of the political machinery
who in turn ensures that only the “politically correct” are receiving adequate
supplies.
Party thugs and
hoodlums strictly control deliveries done by small-scale millers. The quality
control of these millers is deteriorating fast and sample weights of the bags
marked 10kg and 20kg weighed at 7.8kg and 17.4kg respectively. On top of this
they are not being sold at the “controlled” price. Whilst at source they are
sold for only a few dollars more that the controlled price, on the street they
are sold for up to six times the price! If a customer complains it is a case of
“take it or leave it”, and “don’t come back!”
With the large
commercial millers being cut out of the market none of the by-products are
available on the shelves of the supermarkets. This includes cooking oil and
stockfeed ingredients, which now have to be imported at huge extra cost. This
has caused a huge shortage of cooking oil, which is again being exploited by
the privileged elite and being re-exported for “real money” which ends up being
sold on the parallel market at exorbitant rates.
A recent example
of this was seen in Zambia recently when six thirty ton rigs of Zimbabwean
sugar was impounded. Yet in Zimbabwe people have to queue for days, or weeks,
to obtain just 1kg of the precious commodity. This abuse by the political elite
is part of the racial redistribution of wealth (or power, as it is perceived).
The average men on the street (or “masses”) are being starved whilst the
political elite is being enabled to amass enormous fortunes. The profit from
one 30-ton rig of sugar sold outside the country is said to be 35,000 Rand – or
ZW$2,450,000!
Coming back to
maize distribution, it was often wondered why A1, or intensive resettlement,
has been carried out in the dry Region V. The settlers are being given 25 to
35ha of dry Mopani forest, where commercial farmers can only graze one
livestock unit to 15ha on a sustainable basis. The grazing land and forest is
being cleared by axe and fire so there is little to sustain settler’s herds of
between 15 and 50 head (plus goats and donkeys), which are now grazing there.
And what do the wildlife survive on!
These arid areas
used to be part of huge cattle ranches because they were both uninhabited and
unsuitable for dryland. BSA Company used to own Nuanetsi Ranch, which was
3.25million acres! The present communal areas of Maranda, Mtetengwe, Matibi 1
and 2, and Sengwe were cut from this ranch and sold to the Government many
years ago.
Because they
were so sparse and uninhabitable one of the previous governments decided some
of them were good dumping grounds to restrict their political opponents to at
the time of African Nationalism. As the new restricted inhabitants could never
hope to be self sufficient in agricultural production due to the erratic
rainfall and droughts, they were always reliant on Government food handouts.
This was the carrot and stick.
Is this not the
same method being applied today?
Force the new
settlers onto the farms in the arid areas and ensure their allegiance by
reliance on Government for their food supplies? Is another part of the equation
not to eliminate all the wildlife and other natural resources, firstly to force
the farmer off, and secondly to destroy the natural value of the land, thus
reducing the compensation values?
This is all a devious plot indeed, but what of
the future of Zimbabwe if this is allowed to continue its perverse and
destructive path?
The Australian
PM may face Mugabe
By Debra Way and Philippa
Bourke
September 15, 2002
PRIME Minister John Howard could come face to
face with Zimbabwean President
Robert Mugabe in a meeting to decide if the
African country should be
expelled from the Commonwealth.
Mr Howard
will fly to Nigeria next weekend to join other members of the
Commonwealth
leaders' troika on Zimbabwe in considering sanctions against
the Mugabe
government.
Mugabe has ignored international pressure to reform
Zimbabwe's economy and
political processes after electoral corruption and
human rights abuses.
White farmers have been driven off their farms by
independence war veterans,
leading to greatly reduced rural production and
fears of famine in a country
once a food exporter.
Foreign Minister
Alexander Downer, speaking after a meeting in New York with
Commonwealth
foreign ministers, said it was possible Mr Mugabe might attend
next weekend's
talks.
"President Obasanjo's confident
that President Mugabe will come to the
meeting ... we haven't had any
confirmation of that, though," Mr Downer told
reporters.
"We're going
there with an open mind about what the Commonwealth could do.
"We're
going to the meeting acknowledging there is an enormous problem and
the
Commonwealth needs to do more to address it."
Mr Downer did not confirm
what action the Commonwealth might take, although
the troika does have the
option of expelling Zimbabwe.
"The Commonwealth would have a range of
things it could do," he said.
"But the important thing here is the
Commonwealth Heads Of Government
Meeting held in Coolum in Australia in March
gave the troika ... the
authority to manage this issue of
Zimbabwe.
"What the troika has done so far at a meeting in London a few
months ago is
to suspend Zimbabwe from the councils of the
Commonwealth.
"And some countries individually have imposed so-called
smart sanctions,
United Kingdom, New Zealand, one or two others
perhaps.
"What other measures the troika may come up with, I don't know
that I want
to canvass here."
Labor's foreign affairs spokesman Kevin
Rudd said Australia should slap
smart sanctions on Zimbabwe immediately and
should have done so six months
ago.
Mr Rudd said the government
promised earlier this year that if Zimbabwe's
elections were fraudulent
Australia would impose targeted sanctions.
"We should have done so six
months ago, we must do so now," Mr Rudd told the
10 network.
He said
as a Commonwealth election observer to Zimbabwe he was in no doubt
Mugabe had
been elected through violent and fraudulent means.
"Once again we've got
some evidence here that the foreign minister and the
prime minister are not
leading the debate around the world on Zimbabwe, they
are following the
debate," he said.
Australian Democrats interim leader Brian Greig also
said Australia should
have acted earlier.
"I would have much preferred
that Australia took action much earlier," he
told reporters in
Canberra.
"I regret that it has got to this point."
MSNBC
Zimbabwe court refuses to order ex-judge's
release
HARARE, Sept. 15 - Zimbabwe's High Court refused on
Sunday to order the
release of a retired white judge who was arrested on
charges of misconduct
while on the bench, saying there was nothing wrong with
his detention.
Former High Court Judge Fergus Blackie clashed with
President Robert
Mugabe's government and hit the headlines this summer after
ordering the
arrest of the justice minister.
Blackie was arrested
on Friday and his lawyers said he would be
formally charged on Monday
afternoon after their bid failed on Sunday to get
him freed from police
custody.
''The application was dismissed and the net effect of the
ruling is
that the arrest was proper in the circumstances,'' advocate Firoz
Girach
told reporters. Blackie, 65, was not brought to court.
Blackie retired as a High Court judge in July -- the seventh judge in
15
months to leave the bench which has accused Mugabe of undermining
judicial
independence. Mugabe has called the judiciary ''white-controlled
and
white-serving.''
Police spokesman Chief Superintendent Bothwell
Mugariri said Blackie
was under investigation and could face criminal
prosecution for irregularly
overturning a white woman's conviction for
fraud.
Zimbabwe's official Herald newspaper reported on Friday that in
May
Blackie allegedly quashed the conviction and set aside an effective
one-year
jail sentence without consulting a black judge who heard the woman's
appeal
with him.
Authorities say the case has only just come to
light.
Blackie was arrested on corruption charges, or
alternatively
defeating the course of justice. His lawyers say he is
innocent.
Just before he left the bench, Blackie ordered the arrest of
Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa for contempt of court.
The
Supreme Court later set aside Blackie's ruling that Chinamasa was
in contempt
for his public condemnation of a sentence passed by another
judge three years
ago.
Chinamasa said Blackie's ruling was ''a hostile parting shot
against
the executive which should not be tolerated'' and Information
Minister
Jonathan Moyo accused the judge of racism.
The government
was also incensed by the judiciary after the country's
Supreme Court ruled
against its seizures of white-owned farms for
redistribution to landless
blacks.
Mugabe, 78, and Zimbabwe's ruler since the former Rhodesia
gained
independence from Britain in 1980, is battling a deep political and
economic
crisis which critics blame on policies including the land
programme.
Critics say Mugabe has targeted the judiciary in a drive
against
growing opposition to his government.
ABC Australia
Posted: Sun, 15 Sep 2002 23:09 AEST
Zimbabwe
journalist arrested for 'contravening Police Act'
A Zimbabwe journalist
arrested just days after writing an article claiming
the country's police
chief was unfit for duty, has been charged with
contravening the Police
Act.
State-run ZBC television reports reporter Tawanda Majoni, a
former
policeman, had "not properly resigned from the force" before getting a
job
with the recently-launched Daily Mirror newspaper.
He was arrested
on Thursday and released today, facing charges of
contravening the Police
Act.
, police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena told ZBC.
ZBC says the
investigations were prompted by an article Majoni wrote in the
Daily Mail's
first edition, alleging Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri
is unhealthy
and unfit for duty.
Mr Chihuri dismissed the report as untrue.
The
report prompted an angry response from Information Minister Jonathan
Moyo,
who said if the paper's editor could not run "a professional paper,
the law
will have to assist him".
Under tough press laws introduced this year,
publishing false information is
punishable by a stiff fine, a prison
sentence, or both.
The state-controlled Sunday Mail reports Majoni is
expected to appear before
a police hearing.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=28944
Sunday,
September 15,
2002
------------------------------------------------------------------
Zimbabwe-style
land grab in South Africa?
By Anthony C.
LoBaido
------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted:
September 15, 2002
1:00 a.m. Eastern
"Our common and decisive
victory against domestic apartheid confirms that
you, the peoples of the
world, have both a responsibility and a possibility
to achieve a decisive
victory against global apartheid."
- South African President Thabo Mbeki in
his opening speech at the recent
U.N. conference on Sustainable
Development
HOUT BAY, South Africa - The mantra heard in the malls,
shops, churches and
pubs around South Africa goes like this: "What's
happening in Zimbabwe can't
happen here."
Unfortunately for
freedom-loving South Africans, it has indeed begun - the
taking by force of
white-owned farmland by blacks.
When radicals representing the 6,000
squatters in Hout Bay, a sunny seaside
community just outside Cape Town,
stormed the Cape High Court last week,
South Africa whites were not
surprised. Landless blacks have been protesting
their plight since the late
1940s. However, what was shocking to South
Africans was the fact that these
protesters were carrying Zimbabwean flags.
How did South Africa get to
this point, which many fear is a
Zimbabwean-style land grab?
"The
squatters in Hout Bay, they have no infrastructure or jobs. Now they
are
being moved again - this time by the ANC (ruling African National
Congress).
They have been there for a decade, but the number of squatters
has outgrown
that squatter camp's ability to accommodate them. The fact that
they are all
carrying Zimbabwean flags - well it's scary," said Mary Anne
Southard, a
South African hotelier based outside Hout Bay.
It is not a random
phenomenon that South African blacks are taking to the
streets carrying
Zimbabwean flags.
During the U.N.'s recent Sustainable Development
Conference held in
Johannesburg, Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe was
welcomed as a conquering
hero by large South African crowds carrying
Zimbabwean flags.
"Many felt it was the Zimbabwean Central Intelligence
Organization that
secretly organized Mugabe's welcome," South African
intelligence agent
Jerome Botha told WorldNetDaily.
"But then South
African President Mbeki gave Mugabe twice as much time to
speak at the
conference as any other leader. Mugabe and Namibian leader
Nujoma railed
against the West, along with Venezuelans and Cuban Marxists.
U.S. Secretary
of State Colin Powell was booed off the stage when he
criticized Mubage's
confiscation of the white farmland in Zimbabwe. Make no
mistake - Mugabe has
the full support of the non-white community in South
Africa, save for the
million black Zimbabweans who fled to South Africa to
escape Mugabe's
man-made famine. Hout Bay is the final sign that this is the
beginning of the
end for white South Africans," said Botha.
"Mbeki should put down the
Hout Bay rebellion before its spreads across the
whole nation, but he won't.
Even South African communist leader Jeremy
Cronin has protested the
ZANU-ification (the ZANU-PF party is Mugabe's
platform) of the ANC. The
stealing of the whites' land in South Africa has
gone slower than Zimbabwe
only because Mbeki was trained in the Soviet
Union, while Mugabe and
Namibia's leaders believe in a Maoist style agrarian
reform system and mass
extermination as carried out by Pol Pot in Cambodia.
Mugabe waited more than
20 years to take the white farms. In South Africa,
these events will occur
much quicker."
A representative of South Africa's white farmers told
WorldNetDaily that the
ANC has set a series of laws in place to allow blacks
to confiscate
white-owned farms.
"Basically, the new ANC laws say that
any black can make a verbal claim to
white-owned farmland by saying their
ancestors were taken off that land by
force. It is up to the white farmer to
prove that he owns the land," the
representative said.
"We saw the ANC
faithful chanting 'Kill the Boer, kill the farmer,' at a
recent funeral for a
top ANC leader. The Marxist intellectuals have set the
ideology for killing
whites and taking all they own. Now that ideology is
being marketed to the
black impoverished masses. The South African army and
police are now a joke
under ANC rule. Who can stop what is coming?"
One political voice in
South Africa rising in protest is Tony Leon, the
leader of the Democratic
Alliance, which opposes the ANC in parliament.
Leon last week accused the
ANC government of "tacit support" for Mugabe's
"lawless land-reform program."
Leon told the South African people that the
ANC would "share moral
responsibility for the Zimbabwe crisis. This amounts
to nothing less than
tacit support for the Mugabe regime's lawless
land-reform program and an
implicit renunciation of each and every core
principle of Nepad (the New
Economic Program for African Development)."
ANC foreign affairs chief
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma issued a statement
challenging Leon, saying that it
was "too late" to change Zimbabwe's course
and that it was "time to focus on
Britain's failure to finance land
distribution."
"Mugabe has claimed
that Zimbabwe's farmers owned 75 percent of the country.
In reality, they
owned roughly 15 percent. Most of the white farmers
purchased their farms
after Mugabe took power," Julie McKay, a spokesperson
for Zimbabwean Justice
for Agriculture told WND.
The Pan African Congress, a radical black
Marxist group, has given the ANC
an order to begin Zimbabwean-type land
reform by April of 2003. However, it
appears that some in South Africa aren't
willing to wait that long.
The PAC said recently that it supported the
claim to all white-owned farms
and assets as issued by Namibia's Nujoma and
Zimbabwe's Mugabe. In a press
release, PAC President Stanley Magoba stated,
"We indeed agree with them, as
we have always done, that there can be no
peace for all if there is no land
for all. Some apologists for slow
inconsequential land distribution have
used the tired argument of law and
order to justify historic inequalities.
It is against the law to seize the
land, they claim, forgetting that
apartheid was legal, and it was unlawful
for Africans to exercise political
power."
Protesting 'neo-liberal
capitalism'
Spearheading the new drive for Zimbabwean-style land reform
in South Africa
is the so-called Landless People's Movement. The LPM has
mushroomed
miraculously almost overnight into a global organization linked to
radical
Marxist groups from all over the world - the most important being La
Via
Campesia, an international group of "disenfranchised" rural
people.
At the recent Sustainable Development Conference in Johannesburg,
the LPM
marched in defiance of globalization and what they felt is the
ANC's
pro-capitalist stance in regard to their domestic fiscal and
economic
policy.
During this march, the LPM handed out leaflets
stating: "The leaders of the
world tell us over and over that they are
solving our problems, saving our
Earth, providing us with a better life. But
the system they represent,
neo-liberal capitalism, continues to destroy
people and the planet."
Recently, 72 people with the LPM were arrested
after they launched a
separate march that led to the offices of ANC Transvaal
leader Mbhazima
Shilowa.
Mangaliso Khubeka, the national organizing
chief of the LPM, told the South
African media, "The [ANC] government is
trying to destroy us, but actually
they are giving us more power. If the
government was doing the right thing
for us we wouldn't be with La Via
Campesina. What we are striving for is
land. The people in Zimbabwe are
getting land by taking it."
In 1994, the ANC promised to give 30 percent
of South Africa's land to
landless blacks by 1999. The LPM is calling for a
"land summit" in which a
Zimbabwean-style land-reform program would be
enacted by the ANC to hand
over the land of white "abusive
farmers."
"Can someone please define 'abusive' for me?" asked the
representative of
white farmers.
"That word can mean almost anything.
Isn't anyone going to stand up against
Mugabe and his admirers in South
Africa?"
New Zealand has called for the expulsion of Zimbabwe from the
British
Commonwealth. Fiji has endorsed that expulsion, which was enacted
last
March. ANC Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad lashed out at New Zealand,
saying
that they "could not speak for the British Commonwealth as a
whole."
Mugabe has stated that Zimbabwe is facing a famine. However,
secret aerial
footage smuggled out of Zimbabwe and showed to journalists
recently at a
press briefing in the Transvaal showed Zimbabwe's dams to be
filled to
capacity with rainwater.
Andrew Natsios, the head of USAid,
issued a press briefing stating that it
was "madness" for Mugabe to arrest
commercial farmers "in the middle of a
drought when they could grow food to
save people from starvation."
About 6 million Zimbabweans will need food
aid, according to aid groups.
Where will all of this lead?
Natasha
deBoer, a Cape Town-based executive with dual citizenship in both
the UK and
South Africa, told WorldNetDaily she is not surprised at Mugabe's
newfound
popularity in South Africa.
"The whites in Cape Town live in a dream
world. They have but a few years
left of their fantasy of a normal life under
communist black rule," she
said.
"My father was in the British SAS.
Almost 25 years ago he said that Mugabe
was the 'wave of the future.' I find
it positively shocking that Tony Blair
and Colin Powell would protest
Mugabe's murderous actions now - this after
the British Foreign Office and
the U.S. State Department destroyed the white
leadership of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe
and put Mugabe into power in the first
place. People should be asking what
the master plan is in southern Africa.
It certainly doesn't include
whites."
Adriana Stuijt, a former anti-apartheid crusader and Dutch
journalist, told
WorldNetDaily, "I think the first time the Afrikaner farmers
start using
violence to defend their land rights - after the violence against
them
spreads because of the increasing famine creeping in from the rest of
the
subcontinent - a huge ethnic-cleansing campaign will be launched by the
more
radical elements within the African community. It will be carried out
with
the secret approval and active backing of the ANC regime in South
Africa.
This will mirror the terror campaigns in Kenya, Uganda, the Congo,
Angola
and Mozambique."
Stuijt continued with her grim scenario: "It
will target all the remaining
Afrikaners who all will be described as 'racist
right-wing whites who want
to overthrow the government,' and this all will
result in hundreds of
thousands of deaths, a slaughter of the innocents which
will however be
largely covered up by the international news media for years
because it will
be politically incorrect to write about it. Anybody with even
half a brain
should actually quit the southern African continent very soon
before this
starts happening - I expect within the next five years."
From The Daily News, 13
September
Government mulls laws to deal with
opposition MPs
By Luke Tamborinyoka
Patrick Chinamasa, the Minister of Justice, Legal and
Parliamentary Affairs, on Wednesday told Parliament the government would soon
come up with comprehensive measures to deal with opposition MPs who walk out of
the House. Chinamasa was responding to a question by Chirumanzu MP, Innocent
Chikiyi, on whether there was no law to deal with MPs who boycott the
President’s speech. "This is a clear lack of patriotism on the part of the MDC
and it is a cause of concern for the nation," Chinamasa said, amid jeering by
opposition MPs. "They did not only boycott the opening session but they have
been going around the country and all over the world, lobbying for sanctions and
military intervention by other countries. We are looking into ways and means
against MPs who exhibit evidence of unpatriotism when they have sworn an oath of
loyalty to the country," he said. The MDC MPs walked out again when debate on
the President’s speech resumed soon after Chinamasa had threatened the
government would take action against them.
The MPs first walked out when President Mugabe officially
opened the third session of the fifth parliament in July. They said they would
not listen to his speech because their party’s position was that President
Mugabe was not the legitimately elected leader of Zimbabwe. The MDC is
challenging Mugabe’s victory in the High Court, citing massive rigging and
intimidation. The MPs again walked out on Tuesday when debate on President
Mugabe’s speech started. Later, Chinamasa skirted a question by Pumula-Luveve
MP, Esaph Mdlongwa, on why Mugabe had increased the size of the Cabinet when the
government had no money. Three ministries were also formed. "The number of
deputy ministers has increased from nine to 12 and this is at a time when the
workers of this country are heavily taxed. These deputy ministers do not act in
the absence of Cabinet ministers and they do not attend Cabinet meetings. We
wonder why they are being increased," Mdlongwa said. Chinamasa said he would not
respond because the issue had nothing to do with government
policy.
"Chilling in view of Libya's current interest in Zimbabwe.........."
Grace Gateere
English 1102
Research Paper On A Dictator
IDI AMIN DADA
O4/02/01
Africa’s Most Feared Dictator
What would your reaction be if you knew that Adolf
Hitler were alive somewhere today. Certainly you remember how much pain he
caused the world? Would you attempt to have him murdered? Would you attempt to
have him tortured maybe have his skin peeled off from his body in a slow and
painful process? Perhaps drop him inside a pot of boiling oil? What if you knew
that there is a man of the likes of Hitler alive today living in luxury in exile
of course in Saudi Arabia? Would you still do all that? His name is Idi Amin
Dada. He was the president of Uganda as well as Field Marshall, V.C., and
Conqueror of the British army. He was president of Uganda between 1971 and 1977.
The following is about his regime, how he started, where he started from and
especially what he did.
Unfortunately for Idi Amin he was born of a witch.
This must surely explain his weird life. He along with his friends strategically
placed in the Ugandan army killed over 500,000 people and with assistance from
them destroyed the economy of Uganda. At birth Amin was a very heavy baby
actually twelve pounds. As a youth he was tall and towering for his age a big
bully. Joseph Kamau and Andrew Cameron (1979) say that "in the sun down hours of
play he would over come any opposition by simply grasping his opponent’s
genitals and crushing them in his great bear paw of a hand" (p. 5). According to
Henry Kyemba (1977) he started off as cook and was promoted to sergeant in the
King’s African Rifles when he earned the title of Uganda’s heavy weight
champion.
(p. 21)
Henry Kyemba describes him as being a renowned
soldier for his willingness and smartness. He continues to explain that Amen’s
height; his presence and his desire to win badges of merit marked him for
promotion. (p. 48) His superiors were so enthusiastic about him that they
ignored his ability to speak much English and continued to rise in rank. He was
also ruthless with his opponents as previously described. It should not come as
a surprise that early in his life in the army, he cut off the genitals of a
group of cattle rustlers known as the Karamajong as George Ivan Smith (1980). He
continued to explain that Idi Amin did this as an attempt to find out where they
had hidden their weapons (p. 51). Henry Kyemba (1977) emphasizes that he
actually massacred a number of people in search of arms, when Obote the
president of Uganda at the time heard of this, he decided not to persecute him
after all he was a black officer (p. 22). It is safe to say that Amin started to
take the lives of other people very early.
According to Henry Kyemba, the end of the civil war
in Belgian Congo led to a number of significant events that would change the
lives of Ugandans for a long period forever. Obote was sympathetic to the rebels
who were against the rule of Mobote Seseko and wishing to aid the rebels at the
most gave all the responsibility to Amin who was now the Deputy Commander of the
Ugandan army. In Amin’s support of the rebels, he recruited many Nubians and
south Sudanese who were in revolt against their own government (p. 28).
Unfortunately Amin and the southern Sudanese had other mutual interests. As Amin
supported them in their civil war against their own government, in turn provided
Amin with ready made corps which was steadily absorbed into many Ugandan units
(p. 28). That thought alone is scary because should Amin take over from Obote by
any chance the country would be under the military control of people of another
nation.
It is important to realize that in the meantime Obote
was becoming more and more unpopular with the people of Uganda and Amin more and
more popular with his recruits. Obote did not like this and it made him feel
insecure. It became even worse because there was an attempted assassination on
his life and Amin was the chief suspect. Obote never thought of Amin as a threat
but as an illiterate who showed no signs of political ambition unfortunately he
was dead wrong. Obote was never able to find proof of Amin's attempted
assassination. Right after the failed attempt, Amin had a quarrel with a
Brigadier whose body together with his wife’s was found shot dead at close range
inside their house. Immediately Amin was suspected yet again.
Obote organized for Amin to be arrested while
attending the Commonwealth Conference in Singapore in January 1971.
Unfortunately Amin got wind of this before it could actually happen and took
advantage of Obote’s absence and organized a coup. Henry Kyemba (1977, p.
33).
The civilians welcomed Amin; at this point, they
thought that Amin was going to be a better leader than Obote. Man has always
been optimistic about new leadership and in Uganda’s case it was not an
exception. Celebrations took place all over the country for several weeks. Amin
gained peoples favor he even released Obote’s detainees (p. 40).
Remember earlier that Amin could not speak English?
Not only could he not speak it, but he also could not read it. In short Idi Amin
Dada was illiterate, and this is clearly seen through out his regime. According
to George Ivan Smith (1980), "within a week of the coup he had appointed his own
cabinet, dissolved parliament and ordered that no political activity should take
place within the next two years" (p. 83). It is so hilarious to note that Amin
never sat with his cabinet. Not once. He never sat at his desk, he never
listened to his cabinet’s advice and all his orders were given verbally after
all he could not write. George Ivan Smith (1980) further goes on to say "he made
himself Commander in chief, Army chief of staff, Air chief of staff…He was such
a military man that all he did was to take command of the situation. He called
his house the ‘Command Post’ " (p. 83). How foolish he was!
After the coup the murders started immediately. Idi
Amin being from the Kakwa tribe had the Langi and Acholi tribes as primary
enemies. It becomes easier to understand why Amin overthrew Obote; he was after
all a Langi. At the time Uganda’s army was largely comprised of a large group of
Langi. Amin had a lot of them killed meanwhile telling his cabinet that he was
‘mopping up’ the mess caused by the Obote regime Henry Kyemba (1977, p. 44).
Nobody had an idea what was actually going on. He had officers from the tribes
of Langi and Acholi herded into a room and blown up with explosives. Many were
bayoneted and dumped into the River Nile (p. 45). That is simply the way he
dealt with people he did not like. Some he had tortured and killed. Other
prisoners were made to fight each other with z promise that if they killed the
opponent they would be released only to have another prisoner told the same
thing. This was a way of killing while ensuring that it was entertaining.
Towards the end of his book George Ivan Smith (1980) lets the reader know that
during the purges of 1977, two hundred men were executed a day (p. 187). Amin
realizing that it was becoming increasingly to bury thousands of bodies
organized for the bodies to be dumped in the River Nile, whose crocodiles were
supposed to finish off the corpses removing all traces of dead humans.
Unfortunately this did not really work out because the bodies ended up being
washed on shores. Some were seen floating half decayed and bloated on the
surface of the rivers Henry Kyemba 1977, p. 45). Only somebody as sick and crazy
and demented as Amin would do a thing like that.
In fact, Henry Kyemba (1977) says "Amin’s
extraordinary sadism and cruelty have often been said to be a direct result of
syphilis, which in its final stages affects the brain, driving the victim
insane. Amin's records show that he has indeed suffered from syphilis" (p.111).
Amin says, "I have also eaten human meat" (p.109). Remember Amin was the son of
a witch therefore anything is possible.
As Amin went on killing officers in various positions
in the Ugandan army and government professionals continued to flee from Uganda.
They sought exile in Britain and in nearby African countries. Many vacuums were
filled by Amin’s men who were obviously as illiterate, inexperienced and
inadequate as he was. All these promotions were never confirmed in writing,
Suddenly tank drivers became leaders of battalions, intelligence officers, army
officials etc. In an attempt to have these men trained, he had a British officer
train them whose response after a couple of trials was that for men to become
intelligence officers they should have some basic intelligence! Henry Kyemba
(1977, p. 50).
President Amin after talks with Gadaffi
decides to change Uganda to a Muslim state. Libya was going to provide the funds
necessary to do this. Poor Amin overwhelmed by the thought of receiving
that much money from Libya, arms and training facilities played along. Gadaffi
further urged Amin to take control of his economy as he had done from the
Italians (George Ivan Smith 1980, p. 94). Hence according to the Economist
(1995) Amin’s famous dream that God had instructed him to get the 70,000 Asians
out of Uganda (p. 42).
An earlier edition of the Economist (1991) stated
that East Africa applauded the expulsion of the Asians (p. 35). Unknown to them
at the time this ‘famous dream’ would be the cause of the rapid economic decline
of Uganda. The reason being that Asians controlled all of Uganda’s trade. They
were the lawyers, the doctors, the businessmen, owners of industries, companies,
factories etc. They virtually held Uganda’s economy in their hands. The Asians
formed the middle class society of Uganda. Amin did not care about that he gave
them ninety days to get out of the country.
Amin’s army officials pretended to help the Asians to
pack while looting their houses. Pile after pile of boxes were laid out at the
airports where the Asians believed would be put on a flight out and sent to
them. This was only a dream because every single possession was taken to the
homes of Amin’s friends in the army. According to Henry Kyemba (1980) Amin had
great pleasure assigning the Asians houses to his officials. He did the same to
their businesses. They simply could not run the businesses, hence the supply
system collapsed and there after immerged a black market. Only the rich could
afford those products, the rich being Amin’s friends. Ugandans had to do without
the most basic of commodities such as sugar, salt, milk etc (p. 97).
After the Asians were kicked out, Amin’s men started
to take on the patterns of their Leader. They became ruthless. They took
whatever they wanted by force. They robbed cars at gunpoint, the Ugandan police
could not be trusted, people preferred to walk to wherever they were going to,
people in buses were looted and raped, it was a bad time to live in Uganda. The
people sought comfort in religion. They survived on subsistence farming, after
all Uganda is a very fertile country.
Amin had no respect for anybody. He had an Anglican
Arch Bishop murdered. His crime was a plea to Amin to reform and stop all the
bloodshed and terror reigning in the country. He died in a car accident but
according to Henry Kyemba (1977) a minister during Amin’s reign, Bishop Luwum’s
body was found riddled with bullets. He had to be secretly buried to prevent
suspicion (p. 192). Bishop Luwum had made the mistake that cost his life he had
confronted Amin about his government.
Amin squandered the money he received as aid from
Libya. Instead of building mosques or at least buying more buses for the people
to use or trying to rebuild the economy, Amin bought American planes, Russian
ammunition, he lined his pockets with money and those of his friends. His
pockets were known to literally bulge with money in all forms of currency. He
also ensured that his jets and helicopters were fuelled and ready for take off
incased he had to run away. He also deposited money in various countries around
the world and maintains a house in Libya.
Idi Amin had five wives. He divorced three of them
over national radio and later on organized to have one murdered. His second wife
was found mutilated without arms and legs. He has been suspected to be the
cause. He had the lover of his fifth wife murdered and married her twice in
private for himself and publicly for Ugandans to witness. He had numerous
affairs, has many girlfriends and over twenty children. Henry Kyema (1980)
admits that there is no department in Uganda that has been left untouched by Idi
Amin (p. 145-165).
Fortunately for Uganda in April 1978 Amin’s troops
attacked Tanzania. The Ugandans who only know how to spill blood killed more
than two thousand Ugandans destroyed homes and captured women and children. Amin
employed Libyan forces that were not used to fighting in the jungle. He led them
to believe that they were aiding a Muslim state fight against a Christian
minority. How deceptive Amin really is. The Tanzanian soldiers invaded Uganda
and caught the Libyan army by surprise. They rescued the captives held in
dungeons and this marked liberation for the Ugandans subjected to oppression by
one of their own.
Idi Amin is presently in Saudi Arabia. According to
Giles Fodden (1998), "Mr. Amin's presence is thought to be an embarrassment to
King Fahd, who is bound to honor his predecessor's offer of hospitality". This
is after Amin attempted to send a consignment to Uganda thought to be arms. If
anybody feels the need to take him out that would be a great satisfaction for
those who suffered in his hands and the thousands upon thousands who lost their
lives.
Zimbabwe cricket captain Heath Streak has urged the cricket world not to
boycott the six matches scheduled to be played in Zimbabwe in next year’s World
Cup, despite the political crisis there.
"There are no problems in Zimbabwe at the moment. Security is
fine and our families are there at the moment," he said. "We’re
confident the matches will go ahead. Our government and Ministry of Sport have
pledged their support and when Pakistan come on tour in October it will be a
good chance to see that things are all right when it comes to sport," he
said.
"I’d prefer not to delve into politics as sport and politics don't mix,"
Streak said.
zimactivism would like to remind Heath Streak that:
- the Zimbabwe Cricket Union (ZCU) politicised cricket by appointing Robert
Mugabe as their patron. It is impossible to separate the personal from the
political. Every time we buy a newspaper, or tune in to ZBC, or support a
certain cell phone provider or supermarket we make a political decision. We're
curious . . . did you cast your vote Heath, or was that too political?
- that the armed guards that patrol State House directly adjacent to Harare
Sports Club have assaulted, harassed and intimated people walking/cycling past
Mugabe's residence.
- that the following graffiti is scrawled on the walls of the Harare Sports
Club complex:
"jihad on whites - we want our land back"
- that, whereas the majority of political posters from the presidential
elections have been removed, Robert Mugabe's fist still adorns the walls of the
Harare Sports Club. The club owners are obviously too scared to remove them
because of their proximity to presidential guards toting machine guns and
bayonets.
- it might be true that visiting cricket teams will be safe travelling to and
from Meikles Hotel in their air-conditioned mini-buses. But let's spare a
thought for the THOUSANDS of Zimbabweans who have been and continue to be
intimidated and assaulted by agents of the Mugabe regime, sometimes simply for
reading the "wrong" newspaper.
- Zimbabwe has 70% unemployment. In the face of these horrendous statistics
Zimbabwe has seen an increase in crime. Many people will agree that they no
longer feel safe walking the streets of Harare. The likes of Heath Streak, when
he's actually in the country, are lucky enough to have security, transport and
food in their bellies.
We are proud of the achievements of the Zimbabwean cricket team. We
understand that a depressed and seemingly defeated nation needs to be uplifted
and unified through various events, sport included.
However, we object to Streak's insensitive and selfish position on the
subject of a world cricketing boycott of Zimbabwe. We are also outraged by the
ZCU's pursuit of revenues and profits in the face of mass suffering in Zimbabwe.
And we are incredulous that Zimbabweans themselves will still set their
consciences aside and support the ZCU for some fun in the sun and beer in the
belly whilst thousands of their fellow countrymen and women are severely
impoverished directly through actions of the Zimbabwean government.
At the VERY least, a percentage of gate-takings from all World Cup cricket
matches held in Zimbabwe should be donated to victims of political violence.
zimactivism
ABC Australia
Govt must target sanctions against Zimbabwe: Rudd
The
Federal Opposition has accused the Government of being out of step
over
Zimbabwe.
Prime Minister John Howard will meet the leaders of
Nigeria and South Africa
in Nigeria next week, as conditions continue to
deteriorate in Zimbabwe.
The troika met in London six months ago and
issued a series of steps to
address the situation.
Mr Howard has said
little progress has been made by Zimbabwe's President,
Robert
Mugabe.
Shadow Foreign Minister, Kevin Rudd, today called on the
Australian
Government to implement targeted sanctions on the personal
financial
transactions of members of the Mugabe regime.
Farmers Arrested
On Friday 13th Sept. 2002 a well planned exercise was
initiated to arrest farmers in the Southeasten Lowveld by unites of police that
were not from the lowveld, but obviously from Masvingo and further
up
country.
Many farmers were taken completely by surprise, because this
exercise of arresting farmers for contravening the Section 8 orders, had been
done and completed on the weekend of the 19th August.
At a meeting with the police and the provincial lands officer
Mr. Muterio during that week, they
rationalized farmers that were allocated plots on their own
properties who were then made to sign a register and told to go back to their
farms and continue farming. So even in their own books, this latest harassment
of the farmers is completely illegal and unwarranted. In some cases the police
barged into farmers homes brandishing AK,s and scaring the hell out of the wives
and children. This was completely unnecessary as there have been absolutely no
cases of farmers resisting arrest.
The farmers, which number 11, with 11 other
prisoners are stuck into a 6mt x 4mt cell, which has only one hole in the
floor, in a corner, to be used as a toilet. The cell was filthy and had not been
disinfected in ages. Whilst the farmers are in good humour, they feel very
demeaned by the condition of the cell,
and how they are being
treated as criminals for being landownersand good business men.
Really, the farmers only crime, it seems, is to be white and
to disagree with the land distribution exercise as it has been designed, and for
good reason as everybody is now aware.
Some one thousand plus workers, and their extended families,
rely on these farmers for employement and their livelihood. These people are
very confused and worried about their future, and rightfully so.
A country getting destroyed by terrorests whilst
the world watches and dose nothing, shame to the civilised world.
GW
Zim Standard
Mzee embarassed
By Parker
Graham
MASVINGO-Vice president Simon Muzenda on Friday watched
helplessly as
over 1 000 graduating students of the Masvingo Technical
College walked out
as he was making his speech-an incident which deeply
embarassed the veteran
politician who considers Masvingo his political
domain.
Muzenda, whose spirited efforts had resulted in the
establishment of
the college some years ago, was left speaking mainly to
officials and
several empty chairs and desks, as students, disgruntled by the
idea of a
proposed mass graduation rather than individual capping, scurried
out of the
graduation venue.
The students had arrived at the
venue with their families and
relatives in tow plus hired photographers in
the hope of taking pictures
with either Muzenda or Swithun Mombeshora, the
new minister of higher
education and technology.
Traditionally,
graduating students receive their certificates
individually from the guest of
honour who also shakes their hands. This
gives them the opportunity of having
themselves photographed with the
special guest or any other distinguished
officials present.
However, student hopes were dashed when
Mombeshora announced that he
was conferring their graduation status on them
by word of mouth and there
would be no shaking of hands or handing over of
certificates.
The students departed from the venue in anger saying
they had not been
informed in advance about the changes.
An
attempt by the vice principal of the Masvingo Technical College,
Clever
Nyamukapa, to persuade the students to stay put while vice president
Muzenda
delivered his speech, were to no avail.
"You cannot do that as the
vice president speaks. It shows lack of
respect," said
Nyamukapa.
But the defiant students continued to shuffle out,
ignoring both him
and Muzenda,
the man who battled for over a
decade with veteran politician Eddison
Zvobgo for control of this most
populous province.
In separate interviews with The Standard, the
disgruntled students
said they were against the idea of forced mass
graduation.
"This graduation is just like a mass burial. What
surprises me most is
that President Mugabe has for years individually capped
over 5 000 UZ
graduating students and conferred on them masters degrees,
honours degrees
and diplomas, but a mere minister appointed last week is
already too lazy to
show that he has some life. He should show that he has
energy," said a
disappointed student as he walked away with a hired
photographer.
"Three years down the line, this minister could be
sending
representatives in his place," said Wilbert Ncube, another
graduand.
"It's right for us to protest when we see that things are
going to the
dogs. We are adults and should be seen as parents just like
them," Obert
Mtetwa
Masvingo Polytechnic principal, Barnabas
Taderera told The Standard
that the idea of conducting a mass graduation had
been necessitated by the
huge number of graduating students. A total of 1 600
students were awarded
certificates or diplomas.
"Remember, last
year we had no graduation ceremony because of the
student unrest which forced
the graduation ceremony to be abandoned. It was
something beyond our control
hence the decision to carry out a joint
graduation," said Taderera.
Zim Standard
MDC barred
By our own Staff
ZANU PF officials and hooligans, including a politburo member and
former
cabinet minister, Didymus Mutasa, on Thursday barred several MDC
candidates
from registering with the nomination court for the forthcoming
local
government elections.
The opposition, which had intended to
contest most of the vacant posts
in the local government elections, ended up
failing to field candidates in
some of the posts due to the heavy
intimidation of prospective candidates.
While in other areas
candidates were forced to withdraw their
candidature before the nomination
day, others were forced to flee for their
lives after heavy intimidation at
the nomination court.
The government has set aside 30 September as
election day in all
vacant rural district council and urban council
areas.
In Manicaland, the MDC failed to field candidates in its
strongholds
of Mutasa and Mutare North. A number of candidates who were meant
to have
stood for the party in the Chipinge and Makoni areas were also forced
to
stand down after receiving threats.
Even Zanu PF candidates
who had failed to win party approval and opted
to stand as independents were
strongly warned from doing so by Mutasa, who
has emerged as a warlord in
Rusape and surrounding districts.
MDC Manicaland provincial
spokesman, Pishai Muchauraya, said Mutasa
had intimidated 12 candidates of
Makoni East, North and West and they had
subsequently stepped down.
Muchauraya said Mutasa was moving around with a
pistol telling prospective
candidates that they would be chased out if they
dared register for the
election.
Said Muchauraya: "Because of this hostile situation, we
ended up
fielding 78 candidates out of a possible 132 in the province. The
tactics
used to scare the candidates away varied from area to area. While
in
Chipinge, Mutasa and other areas candidates were mostly threatened
on
nomination eve, in Makoni, candidates were forced to flee from
the
nomination court. This shows a lack of democracy in this country. Zanu PF
is
trying to force us out of the rural areas because they know the impact
there
will be if we were to win this election."
MDC
secretary-general, Welshman Ncube, confirmed that a huge number of
his
party's candidates were barred from registering for the elections.
The situation, he said, was most prevalent in Manicaland,
Matabeleland,
Midlands and Mashonaland Central.
Ncube said Matabeleland North
governor, Obert Mpofu, had led a group
of Zanu PF thugs into disrupting the
nomination court, adding that there was
a near riot when he ordered the court
to close before the end of business.
In Tsholotsho, Ncube said,
some of the MDC candidates were abducted
and could not register. The MDC
secretary-general said the party also
experienced problems in Bubi-Umguza,
Matopo and in Lupane where Zanu PF
supporters intercepted prospective
candidates on their way to the nomination
court and destroyed their
papers.
"In Midlands people were literally told that they would be
dead if
they were seen anywhere near the nomination court and these are rural
people
who are vulnerable and exposed so they withdrew their
candidature.
"We can go on giving examples but the net result is
that this is Zanu
PF's way of winning the election. They will be bragging
that they won the
election without any votes cast but this is because they
have prevented
people from exercising their right to vote. In the meantime,
we have
instructed our lawyers to look at all the cases and then we will seek
legal
recourse," said Ncube.
Although the ruling party won in
most of the rural constituencies
during the 2000 parliamentary election and
the presidential poll of March
this year, the current mass starvation being
experienced by most rural
families could tilt the tide in favour of the
opposition.
Australia
Posted: Sun, 15 Sep 2002 10:38
AEST
Zimbabwean Govt and judiciary relationship continues to crumble
A
retired white judge has appeared in court in Zimbabwe, accused of abusing
his
judicial powers.
Former High Court justice Fergus Blackie is being held
in custody.
The arrest of Mr Blackie is the latest incident in the
deteriorating
relationship between the Zimbabwean Government and the
judiciary.
Lawyers for the retired judge say he is innocent.
But
the Government accuses Mr Blackie of mishandling a case, in which he
set
aside a jail term for a white defendant.
The former High Court
judge has not been charged, but police are refusing to
release him.
Mr
Blackie retired from the bench in July, after attempting to sentence
the
Justice Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, to three months jail for contempt
of
court.
The sentence was later overturned, but the case infuriated
the Government,
who accused Mr Blackie of racism.
Scotland on Sunday
Howard calls for decision on Mugabe
sanctions
DAVID MAHONEY
AUSTRALIAN Prime Minister John Howard
has called for a second meeting of a
tri-nation panel of Commonwealth leaders
to consider implementing sanctions
against Zimbabwe's President Robert
Mugabe.
Howard said preparations were under way for a meeting of the
so-called
troika in Abuja, Nigeria on September 23 to discuss the latest
developments
in Zimbabwe where an estimated six million people are short of
food because
of disruption to farms and drought.
Zimbabwe has been
gripped by a political and economic crisis since
pro-government militants
invaded white-owned farms in early 2000 in support
of Mugabe's campaign to
redistribute farms to landless blacks.
"My fellow Commonwealth troika
leaders, President (Olusegun) Obasanjo of
Nigeria and President (Thabo) Mbeki
of South Africa, have confirmed their
availability for the meeting, assisted
by the Commonwealth Secretary General
Don McKinnon," Howard
said.
Zimbabwe dominated the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in
Australia
earlier this year, but the racially divided summit agreed to take
no
immediate action against the country other than to set up the
tri-nation
taskforce to monitor developments.
At a March meeting in
London, the troika decided to suspend Zimbabwe from
the councils of the
Commonwealth for 12 months, but this fell short of full
suspension and no
caveats or targets were laid down.
"Zimbabwe has been quite indifferent
to the requests properly made of her by
the Commonwealth and we want to talk
about what might further be done in
relation to that," Howard said. "All
troika members are anxious to see
progress in Zimbabwe and its earliest
possible return to full protection of
Commonwealth democratic values."
Sunday Times SA
Commonwealth bid to rein in Mugabe
Justice
Malala : New York
The Commonwealth troika of leaders tasked with
resolving the crisis in
Zimbabwe has asked President Robert Mugabe to attend
a meeting in Abuja,
Nigeria, at the end of this month to try to thrash out a
lasting solution to
the country's problems.
The three leaders -
Australia's Prime Minister John Howard, South Africa's
President Thabo Mbeki
and Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo - will meet
Mugabe for the first
time since they agreed, five months ago, to slap
Zimbabwe with a one-year
suspension from the Commonwealth after his
controversial election win in
March this year.
Mbeki announced the new initiative this week as
Mugabe once again gave
notice to the United Nations that he would not back
down from his land
restitution programme. In speeches to world leaders
gathered for the UN's
57th general assembly this week and to a group of
supporters in New York ,
Mugabe reiterated his intent to resettle landless
blacks on white-owned
farms.
Mbeki told US business and political
leaders on Thursday that the land issue
was central to the Zimbabwean crisis
and had to be addressed. Financier
George Soros and former US Treasury
Secretary Robert Rudin were among those
who listened to Mbeki's
speech.
"Everybody will agree that there is indeed a need for land
redistribution in
Zimbabwe. The issue is how it is done," Mbeki said. T he
meeting with Mugabe
was called to "look at the entirety of the issue" and
explore ways to
address the "matter of instability and [a] more coherent
Zimbabwean response
to the problem that they face".
Mbeki also
said that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan would continue his
efforts to
persuade Zimbabwe to work with the UN on a "credible, viable,
correct process
for handling the land issue within the context of the rule
of
law".
Mugabe received rapturous applause from about 35 supporters at
New York's
city hall on Thursday afternoon where he was invited to speak
by
controversial councilman Charles Barron. Barron, who caused a
furore
recently when he told a rally that he "wanted to slap the first white
man I
can find", said he had invited Mugabe because he was an inspiration to
black
people.
The supporters - members of a fringe
African-American group called Friends
of Zimbabwe - held up placards and
chanted "Hands Off Zimbabwe" and
"Zimbabwe is not an extension of
Europe".
Mugabe told them that Zimbabwe was their home. There was so
much land in
Zimbabwe that any of them wanting to move to the country would
be given
plots . H e said the land restitution programme was an attempt to
correct
the failure of Britain to finance the process as they had promised
during
the Lancaster House negotiations of 1979.
In his earlier
speech to the UN , Mugabe defended his land restitution
programme robustly
and said he had instituted it to deal with colonial
injustices. He said
African nations were fully supportive of his efforts
while European countries
wanted to maintain a colonial-type control over
African affairs.
ABC Australia
Australia out of step on Zimbabwe: Opposition
The
Federal Opposition says Australia remains out of step with the
international
community in its response to the political situation
in
Zimbabwe.
Shadow Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd made the
comments after the Prime
Minister announced yesterday his decision to convene
another meeting of the
Commonwealth leaders troika.
Zimbabwe was
suspended from the Commonwealth six months ago over concerns
about the
Government's conduct in an election that saw the regime of Prime
Minister
Robert Mugabe returned to power.
Mr Howard will leave for Nigeria next
Saturday to meet South African
President Thabo Mbeki and Nigeria's President
Olusegun Obasanjo.
The leaders will discuss the worsening political and
humanitarian situation
in the country, and whether to impose sanctions
against Zimbabwe.
But Mr Howard says he will not pre-empt the outcome of
the meeting.
"Zimbabwe has been quite indifferent to the requests
properly made of her by
the Commonwealth and we want to talk about what might
further be done in
relation to that," Mr Howard said.
"There are a
range of options available to the Commonwealth but in the end
of course,
individual countries - whether they're in the Commonwealth or
not, can choose
to take action, but it's not an easy position," Mr Howard
said.
"The
internal situation in Zimbabwe is deteriorating very rapidly."
While Mr
Rudd has welcomed the talk of sanctions, he says the Australian
Government
should have taken such action long ago.
"Six-and-a-half months ago,
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer promised to
implement immediately, targeted
sanctions against the regime of Robert
Mugabe," he
said.
"Six-and-a-half months later we have had no action. And during that
period
of time, sanctions have been imposed by the United States, by the
European
Union and by Switzerland."