Tue Jul 16, 1:32 PM ET Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe (L )is welcomed by Cuban leader Fidel Castro July 16, 2002 at the Revolution Palace in Havana, Cuba. Mugabe is beginning his visit to Cuba today. REUTERS/POOL/Jose Goitia
Posted on 07/17/2002 1:30:50 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
HAVANA - President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe met Fidel Castro for talks Tuesday on the first full day of his visit to Cuba.
Castro received Mugabe during an official welcoming ceremony with full military honor guard around noon at the Palace of Revolution, where the Cuban president keeps his offices.
Mugabe last visited Cuba in April 2000, when he headed his country's delegation at the summit of the Group of 77 developing nations held in Havana. His current visit runs through Friday.
Upon his arrival in Cuba Monday evening, Mugabe told reporters at the airport that the case of an American journalist scheduled to be deported from Zimbabwe was "a matter for the courts."
Authorities in Harare gave Andrew Meldrum a temporary reprieve on Tuesday, giving him an extra 30 hours to appeal the order for his deportation made after he was found innocent of violating Zimbabwe's harsh new media laws.
Mugabe has been increasingly the subject of international criticism and sanctions following his disputed re-election in March. As his popularity has waned, he has imposed curbs on journalists and opposition parties, and many of his critics have been attacked or threatened with prosecution.
Mugabe, 78, has ruled Zimbabwe since it gained independence from Britain in 1980.
After March elections that independent observers said were riddled with irregularities, the 15-nation European Union imposed an embargo against Mugabe's government. The United States also has imposed sanctions.
Zimbabwe's government has targeted about 95 percent of farms owned by the country's white minority for seizure, saying it wants to redistribute them among landless blacks. The often violent program of seizures has been condemned by Western governments and has contributed to widespread food shortages.
Tue Jul 16, 1:32 PM ET Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe (L )is welcomed by Cuban leader Fidel Castro July 16, 2002 at the Revolution Palace in Havana, Cuba. Mugabe is beginning his visit to Cuba today. REUTERS/POOL/Jose Goitia
June 16, 2002 - EU hoping for developing world summit to agree on free trade talks - CASTRO AND MUGABE take a pass *** NADI, Fiji - The European Union wants a group of poor nations to agree to a common position on negotiating free trade deals with Brussels, an EU official said Monday. But observers said the unwieldy nature of the 78-nation grouping of African, Caribbean and Pacific island nations makes any unified position from the summit unlikely. The third African Caribbean Pacific summit was to start Tuesday at a palm-fringed resort in Fiji's palm-fringed city of Nadi, as the member states prepare to negotiate free trade agreements with the EU in September. According to the African Caribbean Pacific or ACP secretariat, about 63 national leaders are attending, including South African President Thabo Mbeki.
Two of its most controversial leaders - Cuba's Fidel Castro and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe - will not be there. The European Union is telling the ACP - which accounts for more than 650 million people and includes 40 of the world's poorest countries - that if they want to keep getting European aid, they will have to start removing their trade barriers to Europe's exports. Under an agreement signed between the group's members and the EU in 2000 at Cotonou in the African state of Benin, the European Union is also linking trade and aid to ACP states which impose safeguards to prevent corruption.***
PRESIDENT Mugabe, who left the country on Sunday, is expected to meet Venezuelan officials to avert a possible fuel shortage amid reports that pressure is mounting on Libya to cut fuel supplies to Zimbabwe. John Corrie, the honorary president of the 92-nation Africa-Caribbean-Pacific - European Union (EU) Joint Parliamentary Assembly, yesterday said the EU parliament would approach Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan president, through developed countries which buy fuel from Libya.
"We know that Gaddafi is the only person who is in support of Mugabe's land reform programme which is completely destroying your country," said Corrie from Scotland. "And he is the only person who has agreed to accept your currency for fuel. But that will create a huge deficit for your future generations - that is mortgaging the country." The State media said Mugabe left for a week-long state visit to Cuba but sources within the government said he might make a surprise visit to Venezuela, a member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec).
Venezuelan Energy and Mines Minister, Alvaro Silva Calderon, was appointed the Opec secretary-general last month. "The fuel situation is getting worse and with the Libyans reportedly turning a cold shoulder after amassing land in Zimbabwe, there is a pressing need to take the begging bowl to other oil-producing countries like Venezuela to avert the crisis," said the source. "Why would the President honestly spend a week in Cuba when he has been there before?" he said. Last week, parts of the country were hit by fuel shortages triggered by hoarding amid reports that the commodity was in short supply.
Zimbabwe has been facing perennial fuel shortages since senior executives at the State-owned National Oil Company of Zimbabwe were alleged to have misappropriated millions of dollars a few years ago. The situation was further compounded by the shortage of foreign currency as many countries have stopped doing business with Zimbabwe, now regarded as a rogue state. George Charamba and Jonathan Moyo, the government spokesmen, could not be reached for comment on Mugabe's itinerary. Charamba was said to be travelling with Mugabe while Moyo was said to be out of town. Sources within the government said pressure was mounting on Libya - which provides 70 percent of the country's fuel requirements - to cut the supplies.
Last week, the EU parliament passed a resolution to urge "Libya and other states to end material support that reinforces President Mugabe's intransigence". "Because of the Lockerbie issue and our approach Gaddafi will give in. We are asking all developed countries which buy fuel from Libya to pressurise it to stop trading with your country otherwise it will risk their orders," said Corrie. With the maverick Libyan leader set to become a member of the New Partnership for Africa's Development, relations with Zimbabwe are expected to turn icy as he could sign up for a peer review arrangement.
This would see African leaders being subjected to scrutiny on issues of democracy, good governance and accountability.
I think I'll post it as a thread.
Bump!!!
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