Posted on 06/25/2005 7:43:59 AM PDT by TheOtherOne
Mugabe Pledges Building Plan, Scorns Western 'demonization'
Published: Jun 25, 2005 HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP)- Hundreds of homes have been built in Zimbabwe's capital to replace some of the thousands destroyed in a widely criticized official "cleanup" campaign, the government said Saturday ahead of a planned visit by a United Nations envoy.
President Robert Mugabe earlier scorned Western "demonization" of his five-week program called Operation Murambatsvina, or "Drive Out Trash," which has left between 200,000 and 1.5 million Zimbabweans without homes or livelihoods.
Saturday's announcement followed the condemnation by 10 U.N. human rights experts of the demolition of tens of thousands of homes in shantytowns and the destruction of street markets and vegetable gardens. More than 200 international human rights and civic groups Thursday demanded an end to the campaign, as have Western governments, including the United States, Britain and Australia.
State radio in Zimbabwe reported Saturday that the first 500 of 5,600 new homes were ready for occupation in the capital, Harare, and 250,000 plots of land had been made available immediately countrywide.
A special envoy of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is scheduled to visit Zimbabwe next week to assess Mugabe's campaign. Opposition political groups say it is aimed at punishing those who voted against the ruling party in recent parliamentary elections.
The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corp. also reported that Mugabe said he would receive the envoy "so as to enable the secretary-general to understand and appreciate what we are trying to do for our people, who deserve much better that are now being romanticized as fitting habitats for them."
Mugabe also pledged $325 million to provide 1.2 million houses and plots of land by 2008.
He urged Zimbabweans faced by widespread international condemnation of the campaign "to remain focused and disregard the machinations of the West trying to demonize the country," according to ZBC.
The 81-year-old president, who has ruled the southern African country since independence in 1980, said the mass bulldozing of houses and businesses was to curb "lawlessness, illicit foreign currency dealings, black marketeering, rampant thefts, prostitution and other social ills so detrimental to social morality and decency." He claimed that the program had been "well-received by the majority of our people."
Police say the blitz - in which 42,000 people have been arrested, fined, or had their goods confiscated - has resulted in a 20 percent drop in crimes, including murder, house robberies and car theft.
Zimbabwe's Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube called for Mugabe's arrest and prosecution Friday. Speaking at the Vatican, Ncube alleged that Zimbabwe's government planned to drive disaffected urban voters back to the famine-hit countryside for political re-education, as the Pol Pot regime did in Cambodia in the 1970s.
Both the African Union and President Thabo Mbeki of neighboring South Africa have refused to condemn what they call Zimbabwe's "internal affairs."
AP-ES-06-25-05 0845EDT
Ahh, a true comparison to Pol Pot.
Mugabe is trying to position himself to get the G8 and Geldof $$$ aid that he knows is coming shortly.
Our congressional black caucus has praised the man.
So Mugabe says--Hundreds of houses have been built to replace thousands destroyed. Is this higher math or what have I missed.
still thinking about it are they?
I'm still waiting to hear the ONLY good news from Zimbabwe..
Mugabe killed!
Semper Fi
Appears more has been happening than you led us to believe the other night.
COMING SOON to a neighborhood near you, in the Soviet States of America.
How true... Mugabe and a 5-4 majority of the Supreme Court are in agreement on the power of the State over the people when it comes to stealing private property to enrich wealthy developers and corrups government officials.
??? Sorry - pls clarify what you mean. Thx.
10 human rights experts, 200 groups, the US, UK and Australia. See post 12 and 30 here.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1429412/posts
The UN is a feckless, bureaucratic, money sucking machine, and little else. I think it would do your people a lot of good to take care of this themselves, but I understand the limitations as well. I will join you in the desire for a couple of well targeted cruise missiles.
Who knows - they may mysteriously appear out of nowhere.
Here's hoping ;*) You and your family take care of yourselves, your people need you. All the best.
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