</aSlum Protesters March on Earth Summit
Sat Aug 31,11:33 AM ET
By Manoah Esipisu and Nicholas Kotch
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Thousands of slum-dwellers marched on the Earth Summit on Saturday, protesting about issues from AIDS ( news - web sites) to globalisation and marshalled by heavily armed police who feared violence might upstage the U.N. meeting.
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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-zimland27aug27.story?nul
Zimbabwe's First Lady Grabs a Luxury Farm for Herself
Africa: The redistribution of whites' property is supposed to benefit landless blacks.
By DAVAN MAHARAJ and PETA THORNYCROFT
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
August 27 2002
MAZOWE, Zimbabwe -- Grace Mugabe came here last week, but her visit had nothing to do with promoting literacy, health care or any other official duties that come with being Zimbabwe's first lady.
Instead, Mugabe came to personally evict white farmers John and Eva Matthews, a septuagenarian couple who own the sprawling 2,500-acre Iron Mask Estate.
Witnesses said Mugabe-who was accompanied by senior army officers, government officials and young toughs from her husband's ruling party-told the couple that they had 48 hours to vacate their farm or be arrested.
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With southern Africa already struggling with man-made and natural challenges including bad weather, disease and corruption, analysts say Mugabe's land grabs are endangering about 6 million Zimbabweans-nearly half the country's population. Millions of poor Zimbabweans now need international food aid to survive.
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August 31, 2002
Mugabe withholding food
By David R. Sands
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Zimbabwe's government is using a policy of "selective starvation" to punish political opponents, enrich supporters and ensure a victory in local elections next month, according to an American researcher who just completed a weeklong visit to the south African country.
"What we saw was selective starvation, the use of food as a political weapon," he said.
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"Because government suppliers have a monopoly of the distribution networks, cutting back supply sends prices through the roof and is just one more way for the Mugabe government to steer money to its friends. Put that on top of the lack of nutrition, the high unemployment and the general economic decline, and you have a train wreck on the way."
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Based on his tour of Zimbabwe, Mr. Prendergast said mortality rates among AIDS sufferers in Zimbabwe have already spiked because of the declining food stocks. At an estimated 35 percent of the population, Zimbabwe has the second-highest infection rate in the world after Botswana.
While much of the Western criticism has focused on the struggles of the white farmers, Mr. Prendergast said the government's food policies have been far more devastating for the 1.5 million black farm workers and their families who have been ousted from their plots as the white-owned farms are seized.
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"If you broke the government's monopoly on the commercial food distribution chain, you could avert the famine tomorrow," he said.
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