Zimbabwe's Mugabe Turns 78 Amid Food Crisis and state-sponsored violence and intimidation

yahoo.com ^ | February 21, 2002, 8:26 AM ET | Stella Mapenzauswa

[Cincinatus' Wife]

HARARE (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe turned 78 on Thursday, campaigning in rural Zimbabwe where half a million people are going hungry due to severe drought and land seizures.

The U.N. food agency said on Thursday it began emergency food deliveries to 40,000 people in Matabeleland North, the first shipments in a program to feed 100,000 people in the country over the next fortnight.

"As food supplies grow scarcer and scarcer, hunger is becoming a grim day-to-day reality for hundreds of thousands of people," Pierre Saillez, Zimbabwe representative of the World Food Program, said.

Zimbabwe, once the bread-basket of the region, is facing severe food shortages at a time of rising tensions ahead of presidential elections on March 9-10.

Mugabe, defiant against European Union sanctions and facing his toughest election in 22 years of power, said on Thursday he would celebrate his birthday after the March poll.

"We shall have won the election and it shall be a combination of two celebrations," Mugabe told state radio.

The lead-up to the election has been marred by opposition accusations of state-sponsored violence and intimidation.

Invoking a new tough law and order bill, police on Wednesday banned researchers from releasing details of an election survey that indicated Mugabe was trailing Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

The United States, like the European Union, has been strongly critical of Mugabe's restrictions on the media and of intimidation of the opposition by his supporters.

FOOD CRISIS

Drought, a sagging economy and the often violent seizure of white-owned lands by government supporters have combined to slash Zimbabwe's staple maize crop by nearly 50 percent.

Prices for basic foods like cooking oil and fresh milk have also skyrocketed due to acute shortages and mayhem in the currency -- the Zimbabwe dollar is fixed at 55 to one U.S. dollar but changes hands at several times that rate on the parallel market.

"All this is coming together and creating at least half a million (people) -- and I would say many, many more -- hungry," Gary Howe of the U.N. International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) said.

The agency has devoted some $25-$30 million in loans to rural communities in southern Zimbabwe. The WFP said its funding drive had raised only $5.5 million of a requested $60 million.

"Food is now arriving at a steady pace, but without quick food and cash contributions, we will soon face a rupture in food supplies," Saillez said.

Mugabe has blamed the perilous food situation on drought and insists the government will not let people starve. He has repeatedly accused white farmers of worsening the crisis by hoarding grain.

MUGABE DEFIANT

The ex-guerrilla leader who fought a 1970s bush war against white-ruled Rhodesia was defiant after an EU decision on Monday to freeze assets held in the union by Zimbabwe's ruling elite.

"They say they are imposing sanctions on the leaders so they don't come to Europe. What is Europe? What will I be looking for in Europe? We can visit other countries," Mugabe said in comments broadcast by state television on Wednesday.

"I spent 11 years in prison, in political detention...I yearned to be out and not in Europe," Mugabe said, adding he had no assets or money invested abroad.

The sanctions, imposed after the head of the EU election observer mission was expelled from Zimbabwe on Saturday, also ban travel to EU countries by Mugabe's inner circle.

The largest foreign observer team left is South Africa's.

[backhoe]

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[Marianne]

The U.N. food agency said on Thursday it began emergency food deliveries to 40,000 people in Matabeleland North, the first shipments in a program to feed 100,000 people in the country over the next fortnight.
Zimbabwe, once the bread-basket of the region, . . .
To paraphrase Shakespeare, "First, kill all the farmers."

[Cincinatus' Wife]

To paraphrase Shakespeare, "First, kill all the farmers."

Correct. Zimbabwe court rules seizing of white-owned land legal

Next: Ruling party militia set up bases ahead of Zimbabwe election, eight more killed in political violence -- The youths have been accused of assaulting drivers not holding ruling party membership cards and seizing thousands of identity papers needed to vote. The Human Rights Forum claimed that militia also raided homes of rural voters and seized identity documents. "This appears to be a wholesale elimination of eligible voters from the voters roll," the forum said.

Then set up your opponent Government propaganda blitz on Mugabe assasination plot puzzles voters in Zimbabwe

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[backhoe]

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