Posted on 10/08/2002 12:35:47 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
LUANDA, Angola - The leaders of 14 southern African nations snubbed Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe, denying him the vice presidency of a regional organization.
Mugabe, strongly criticized abroad and by some southern African leaders for his contested land reform program, was due to assume the rotating vice presidency of the Southern African Development Community at its annual summit here which ended late Thursday.
However, the summit instead named Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa to the post. Tanzania is also to host next year's SADC summit which initially was to take place in Zimbabwe.
Mugabe was due to give a formal speech of thanks at the summit's closing ceremony but he left early. He did not speak in public during the two-day meeting.
It was the second time the SADC has snubbed Mugabe whose increasingly unpopular and authoritarian government has backed the seizure of thousands of white-owned farms and clamped down on political opponents, the judiciary and the media.
At a summit in Namibia last year, the SADC decided to make the chair of the group's defense body rotate on a yearly basis. Before that, Mugabe had been head of that body since 1999 and wanted to continue in perpetuity.
The Luanda summit's long final declaration contained only a brief mention of Zimbabwe, saying Mugabe briefed delegates on his land redistribution program.
However, diplomats said Mugabe was annoyed after being censured by some of the other heads of state in closed-door meetings.
The United States and the European Union ( news - web sites) have imposed targeted sanctions against select members of Zimbabwe's regime. Mugabe's insistence on pushing through the land program against international criticism has soured the region's foreign relations.
The controversy has caused friction within the SADC between Mugabe's detractors and his allies. Many SADC members have privately complained about the effect Mugabe's policies were having on their nations.
At a news conference, officials refused to comment on the switch of SADC vice presidents but Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, a close ally of Mugabe, said Zimbabwe had SADC's backing.
"The land reform program in Zimbabwe aims to redistribute land to those who are below the poverty line and it is hard to see why a government which is trying to redistribute wealth is the target of sanctions," Dos Santos said.
Political unrest is scaring away foreign investors and worsening food shortages in the region. More than 14 million people in six countries in the region face famine. The acute food shortages are a result of drought, conflict and government mismanagement.
SADC member states are South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Mauritius, Malawi, Seychelles, Angola, Zimbabwe and Congo.
Mugabe's thuggery has barely roused America's black elite - Only madness is taking root in Zimbabwe*** Mugabe's supporters are right about this much: He has earned a place in history -- right alongside Stalin and North Korea's Kim Jong-il, megalomaniacs who condemned millions of their own countrymen to starvation. As half of Zimbabwe's population of 12 million hovers near famine, Mugabe has ordered the nation's white farmers, who are responsible for most of its food supply, to stop planting and surrender their farms for redistribution.***
Zimbabwe -- Beware the U-turn***……….The key to understanding what Mugabe and his Zanu PF party are up to - for blacks as well as whites - is the word "leases." The ruling party moguls, security force chiefs and 54,000 others getting so-called "model 2" holdings, capable of being farmed on an individual basis, will not be granted the freehold their 5,000 white predecessors had (The first 2,900 seizure and eviction orders fell due on August 9 and scores of whites were detained over the past weekend for defying them, although their constitutional validity is heavily in doubt). At the first sign of political disloyalty the "new farmers", as Mugabe calls them, will be liable to instant eviction.***
Zimbabwe denies land grab by ruling elite - Colonel Muammar Gadaffi taking his cut*** HARARE, Zimbabwe - Allegations that top politicians and ruling party elite took confiscated white-owned land intended for the landless and impoverished were "patently stupid and indecent," a government spokesman said Thursday. However, ruling party officials were not excluded from a program to allocate seized land to some 54,000 new black commercial farmers, Information Minister Jonathan Moyo said in a statement. A report compiled by farmers that was distributed Thursday said hundreds of senior officials, ruling party supporters, military, police and intelligence officers, and even journalists in the state media were allocated plots ranging in size from a few acres (hectares) to farms of thousands of acres (hectares).***
Zimbabwe's first lady grabs luxury farm - Personally evicts farm couple*** 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. "I'm taking over this farm," witnesses quoted the first lady as saying.***
Zimbabwe -- Mugabe's sister wanted victim's house***"Mugabe said she knew that Paddy McCleary, Terry's aunt, had died a couple of months earlier and she wanted to take Paddy's house, on Terry's farm, for herself. "To avoid trouble, Terry let Mugabe walk around Paddy's house. Then Mugabe said that she would be moving into the house the next day and that she wanted the furniture as well. "Terry told Mugabe she couldn't do it. She said 'I can. My brother's the President and if you don't do it then heads will roll.' When Terry asked if she was threatening him, she denied it." Following Miss Mugabe's visit, Miss Rusike returned leading a group of war veterans and confiscated all his farm equipment. "They allowed him to plough, but then they planted their own crops in the fields he had prepared," said Mr Munro. It appears there was also a feud behind her intimidation of Mr Ford whose body was found with his dog refusing to leave his side, a scene shown in pictures transmitted around the world. ***
Zimbabwe -- 12 Mugabes to get white farms***Some of those on the list have been allocated three farms, despite the fact that they were given land during the first land reforms in 1998. There are at least 12 Mugabes on the list - including the president's wife, who gets two farms. Mugabe's sister Sabina gets three farms. One of these farms is Gowrie, where the owner, Terry Norton, was killed by invaders.***
Some of those on the list have been allocated three farms, despite the fact that they were given land during the first land reforms in 1998. There are at least 12 Mugabes on the list - including the president's wife, who gets two farms. Mugabe's sister Sabina gets three farms. One of these farms is Gowrie, where the owner, Terry Norton, was killed by invaders.***
Well, at least the poor Zimbabwean are being taken care of. (cough!) It's a real pity that no words can shame these ultra-hypocrites.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.