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Africa Subsaharan
Stop pretending 'all is well in Zimbabwe'
2007-03-08
Zambia broke the regional silence on Tuesday over the deteriorating political conditions in Zimbabwe, telling its counterparts in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to stop pretending "all is well in Zimbabwe".

"We should not pretend that all is well in Zimbabwe. There is a serious problem and ostracising Zimbabwe will not help solve the problems there," Foreign Affairs Minister Mundia Sikatana told SADC executive secretary Thomaz Salomao in Lusaka. Sikatana made the remarks to Salamao during the latter's visit to Zambia to organise the annual SADC summit set to take place in Lusaka in August, at which Zambia is due to take over the community's 12-month rotating chair.

Sikatana said the summit should aim to help stem the economic meltdown in Zimbabwe by engaging authoritarian Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and the European Union on the issue of sanctions. "We should engage the EU over its sanctions against Robert Mugabe. This should be on the agenda," he said. Salomao said the SADC secretariat will look at addressing the issue of the sanctions, which have "crippled the economy and resulted in widespread chronic poverty".
For a moment I thought he'd finally seen the light and was going to call for Bob to retire to a luxurious villa. But no-o-o-o, it's all the fault of the West ...
Sikatana said ending the sanctions is key to ending the food crisis in what used to be known as the breadbasket of Africa. Zimbabweans, who are already jumping the border into South Africa in droves, are now also flooding into Zambia seeking food, he said. Unless the issue of the confiscation of white-owned farms is resolved quickly, the situation will attain catastrophic proportions exacerbated by flooding and drought, he said. It is up to SADC states to take the bull by the horns and help Mugabe realise that dialogue is the best recipe for sustainable peace and stability, according to Sikatana.
Posted by:Fred

#6  At some point we'll start going after the retirees. Unfortunately it is too practical an option to get bastards to leave peacefully that we don't want to set a precident. Not yet. But I imagine there are nations who will hunt down retired tyrants (as Israel hunted down ex-Nazi's) and eventually justice will be done even if money is not returned to the nation from which it was stolen.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2007-03-08 18:00  

#5  I'll be happy when Bob and Grace (and the rest of the "war veterans") are overthrown, and eaten, by the hungry mobs
Posted by: Frank G   2007-03-08 17:33  

#4  Well, maybe the people who f***ed it should solve it?

Aw, what a shame, they retired on millions, no work left to do.
Posted by: rhodesiafever   2007-03-08 17:14  

#3  I got told in RE that Zimbabwe ad recently made a 5000 rand (i think the currency, not all that on my facts) note, which in 7 days time would be worth £1.50 lol, that made me laugh.
This 'place' needs sorting out. Either to be hit, or just cruised missile the palace of Mugabe. Infact that isn't a bad idea, declare war, cruise missile his house and leave it at that. take down a major symbol of his power, and I think you might find the people will solve it
Posted by: devilstoenail   2007-03-08 16:40  

#2  Zimbob hasn't hit bottom yet, but the ground is rapidly aproaching, the crater will look like Arizona's "Meteor Crater" shortly, I predict 6 months or less when food is no longer "Short" But "Gone".
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2007-03-08 13:20  

#1  Sikatana said ending the sanctions is key to ending the food crisis in what used to be known as the breadbasket of Africa.... Unless the issue of the confiscation of white-owned farms is resolved quickly, the situation will attain catastrophic proportions
The real problem is that Mugabe evicted the white farmers and their black workers who had turned Rhodesia into a breadbasket and gave their land to his black "war veterans" and political cronies most of whom either couldn't or didn't farm it productively. Not sure how removing sanctions is going to teach Mr. Farmin' B. Hard how to grow corn. Further, Mugabe's thugs have looted the treasury to the point that Zimbabwe can't afford to buy anything anyway.
Posted by: RWV   2007-03-08 10:19  

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