Posted on 09/26/2007 7:51:51 PM PDT by blam
'Half of Zimbabwe will soon need food aid'
By Sophie Arie
Last Updated: 2:28am BST 27/09/2007
Half of Zimbabwe's people will be dependent on emergency food aid next year, a senior British diplomatic source has said, in a damning indictment of President Robert Mugabe's regime.
Of an estimated eight million Zimbabweans still in the country, "we know we'll be feeding four million people by January or February, possibly more", the official said.
Zimbabweans line up to receive food aid
He estimated that since Mr Mugabe began seizing white-owned farms in 2000, the population has fallen from 12 million to eight million.
Of the estimated four million who have fled, up to three million have moved to neighbouring South Africa and a large number has moved to London. It is estimated that 100,000 Zimbabweans are crossing into South Africa every month.
The stated aim of Mr Mugabe's land grab was to make Zimbabwe self-sufficient and assert its independence from Britain. Instead it has rendered half its population dependent on the outside world for their next meal.
Ironically, Britain is now the biggest single donor paying for food supplies for Zimbabweans.
Hyperinflation and recent price cuts have worsened the situation causing "a really very serious food and every other kind of shortage," the official said.
If Mr Mugabe stays in power for another 18 months, a further two million people may leave, he warned.
Describing Zimbabwe as a place that "feels half empty," the diplomat said rural areas are particularly badly hit, with middle-aged people "either dead of HIV or gone." If Mr Mugabe stays in power, the source, said "he would outlive Zimbabwe".
Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, recently met the senior diplomat. "He said to me there is no food in this country. That is a slight exaggeration but only a slight one."
Mr Mugabe was expected to address the UN general assembly in New York last night amid reports that he and his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, are considering forming a coalition against "global bullies".
Mr Mugabe's attempts to control inflation by cutting prices have only made the situation much worse. While inflation is officially less than 7,000 per cent, the official said it was "probably between 13,000 and 20,000 per cent. No one knows".
He warned that shortages of supplies were now so bad that "even the black market is beginning to dry up".
Yesterday, the Zimbabwean parliament passed a bill giving local owners majority control of foreign firms.
Shell, BP and Barclays are among the British companies still operating in Zimbabwe although most foreign companies have already reduced their activities in the country to a minimum.
The official said Mr Mugabe was unlikely to relinquish power or be forced to stand aside by members of his own Zanu-PF party.
Parliamentary and presidential elections are due in March. But the opposition is unlikely to mount a serious challenge and, he observed, "the people have chosen flight, not fight".
Talk of a coup led by retired army commander General Solomon Mujuru is gaining momentum, he said. "What's left? General Mujuru has a palace coup option," he said.
Zim ping.
But, I thought I read that Africa was getting overweight just like the rest of the known world. How can this be?
Gal 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Will someone please drag Jimmy Carter’s sorry @$$ to Zimbabwe and rub his nose in his “mess?”
Sick of Africa and all their BS - It’s the same crap for 300 years.
I believe in the ancient, time-honored motto, “If you give a man food, he will soon be hungry again. If you give a man a gun, he will go shoot that sonofab*tch Mugabe and the rest of the Marxist scum and get the food.”
Send the request to UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, Harvard, Yale, and the DNC, etc, etc, etc......
They were the folks who insisted that the whites leave Africa or stood by quietly while the whites were driven out or murdered for not leaving quickly enough....
I long ago set down my “white man’s burden” without a single pang of guilt.
just give them that virus that makes you fat, problem solved
Mugabenomics.
#1 the Brits shouldn’t let these people into England.
#2 - no aid should be provided. If the idiots who live in that country can;t connect the dots and dump Mugaqbe and his racist policies themselves, they can all strave to death for all I care.
Zimbabwe and Iran are in the same category. If we or other countries help “the country,” the people will not get the aid; the aid will be stolen by the rulers and the military, then sold or used for their benefit.
Better to just deny the aid and let the country reach rock bottom, then, hopefully, the people will rebel and overwhelm the criminals ruling the country.
Then, progress can begin.
Think of how much misery, death and suffering could have been prevented by a couple of 1000 lb bombs lobbed into Mugabe’s villa. I’d like to see the cost/benefit analysis on that one.
You can add Venezuela to that short list.
However with Iran and Venezuela the situation is slightly different. They have oil wealth to offset their crazy schemes, but if not carefully managed even the petroleum will cease to flow. No money means a fast downward death spiral.
These are, by and large, oppressed and dispossessed white Rhodesians with English parents or grandparents, and in many cases British passports.
#2 - no aid should be provided. If the idiots who live in that country can;t connect the dots and dump Mugaqbe and his racist policies themselves, they can all strave to death for all I care.
Can't argue with that. It is time to stand aside and let the world get a good hard look at the end result of Marxism.
-ccm
-ccm
Trust me. I have been pounding my fist about that commie Mugabe for 20 years. And these stories just keep coming.
They never happen. Mugabe is a thug. But these stories never come to fruition. The Zimbabwe killing fields have never occured and I am starting to think they never will. Zimbabwe is still Rhodesia. One of the most highly developed places in Africa. Mugabe and his enemies may fancy him a dictator. But, he can not turn that beautiful place into a Rwanda.
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.