Posted on 07/24/2002 6:06:56 AM PDT by Clive
The danger of widespread famine and death in Zimbabwe increased yesterday as President Mugabe rejected appeals by the United Nations to reverse his Government's disastrous policies on land redistribution.
Speaking at the annual State Opening of Parliament, Mr Mugabe hailed the scheme "an unparalleled success", saying that almost half of about 5,000 white-owned commercial farms had been transferred to blacks.
The Government would ensure that "no one takes advantage of our stomachs to get to the soul of our sovereignty", he said. "Yes, we need food assistance from governments of goodwill, but we certainly abhor sinister interests which seek surreptitiously to advance themselves under cover of humanitarian assistance. We reject any attempt to use the present drought relief effort to smuggle in failed and inappropriate International Monetary Fund policies . . . as neo-colonial manipulation under the guise of globalisation."
His remarks were seen as a direct attack on a UN appeal launched last Friday to raise £180 million, mostly for 1.5 million tonnes of food, to avert what experts say may be one of Africa's worst disasters. The UN said that Mr Mugabe's campaign to seize white-owned land had "seriously affected one of the most productive sectors of the economy and is a leading cause of the current crisis". It urged the restoration of the rule of law on white-owned farms and the removal of illegal squatters.
Mr Mugabe maintains that the farm seizures are the only way to ensure that landless blacks have access to land, but the programme has brought commercial farming to a halt and left the country with a two-million-tonne grain deficit this year.
The UN cited the state-run Grain Marketing Board's rigid monopoly of grain imports and trade inside the country, and price controls on basic commodities that force farmers and traders to sell their produce well below market prices.
Measures to cut inflation, now at 114 per cent, had to be taken. The currency, officially fixed at £1 to Z$85 but trading on the parallel market at £1 to Z$1,000, had to be liberalised.
Mr Mugabe responded: "Devaluation can only be advocated by saboteurs and enemies." The remark was an attack on Simba Makoni, his Finance Minister and the only member of his Cabinet bold enough to criticise him. Mr Makoni recommended devaluation this month.
Six million people, half of Zimbabwe's population, are at risk of starvation and death and the UN appeal said: "There is a serious risk of famine and loss of life in the coming months."
The Zimbabwean crisis was not a traditional emergency, it said. Drought and the HIV/Aids epidemic had contributed, but "policy choices are at the heart of the problem". Mr Mugabe denied blame, saying that the country's problems had been caused by "continual British machinations and the consequences of the drought".
Within minutes of the start of his speech, the Movement for Democratic Change, which holds 57 of the 120 seats in Parliament, walked out. Its MPs refuse to recognise Mr Mugabe's right to address Parliament after presidential elections in March that were rejected by most of the world as fraudulent and violent.
Outside, a cavalry and infantry parade became a grim affair as Zimbabwean Air Force helicopters hovered, watching for a promised demonstration by a pro- democracy group, and hundreds of police blocked the streets. The crowd of spectators, mostly supporters of his ruling Zanu PF party, was among the smallest since independence 22 years ago.
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