Another African tragedy

Baltimore Sun ^ | May 24, 2002 | staff

[Cincinatus' Wife]

But there is a difference between long-term development aid and humanitarian emergency relief. When innocent people are perishing of hunger, their governments' shortcomings should not be used as a pretext to deny assistance.

FEW AFRICAN nations can escape occasional droughts. But six countries from Malawi to Zimbabwe have been hit by something far more insidious - killer floods that first wiped out crops, followed by a merciless aridity that has baked the soil hard as rock.

Some 5 million people are threatened with starvation.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

But there is a difference between long-term development aid and humanitarian emergency relief. When innocent people are perishing of hunger, their governments' shortcomings should not be used as a pretext to deny assistance.

Let non-governmental organizations assist Mugabe's self-made disaster. He has deliberately (or without care) destroyed the infrastructure of his own country and now wants world governments to shore up his stolen presidency and government. Let South Africa assist him, they applauded his terrorist presidential win.

The World Council of Churches and the United Methodist Church and so many others that support communist causes can pitch in and help. Let them assist the victims of the dictators they support.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[Gorzaloon]

Let non-governmental organizations assist Mugabe's self-made disaster. He has deliberately (or without care) destroyed the infrastructure of his own country and now wants world governments to shore up his stolen presidency and government.

Well, I am glad someone said this. I didn't want to, but the simple truth is, sooner or later it is up to the people in these countries to clean up their governments, or kleptocracies, or whatever they are.

I have finally reached compassion fatigue about the matter. When leaders do not care in the least whether their people live or die, and the people do not hold the leaders accountable, maybe we should not send food packages, we should send weapons.

But I suspect the people do not have the will to use them.

If that is the case, then they have no will to live.

[SkyPilot]

Of all the places I have ever been, Africa was always the worst hell hole. The worst crime, the worst corruption, the worst povety. I can't explain it.

[Clive]

Author:
"But there is a difference between long-term development aid and humanitarian emergency relief. When innocent people are perishing of hunger, their governments' shortcomings should not be used as a pretext to deny assistance."

Cincinatus' Wife:
"Let non-governmental organizations assist Mugabe's self-made disaster. He has deliberately (or without care) destroyed the infrastructure of his own country and now wants world governments to shore up his stolen presidency and government. Let South Africa assist him, they applauded his terrorist presidential win."

I agree with both statements.

All aid to Zimbabwe should be through NGOs.

Indeed I would go further and say that this should apply to all of Africa.

But there is a further problem.

Even the aid directly administered by NGOs is not getting to the people most in need. The Zanu PF thugs are using violence, intimidation, theft and fraud to divert all food, even famine rations, to serve their own purpose.

That purpose is to use famine as a weapon to whip Zimbabwe into line and to guarantee that its people will never again dare to oppose Zanu PF.

Nothing short of a military force at the feeding stations and armed patrols into the countryside to identify and bring in the starving will avail to get the famine rations to the true victims.

And there is no political will to bring military force to bear, especially after the Somalia debacle.

AFRICA WINS AGAIN.

[backhoe]

About a year ago I penned this:

---

I did start the AfricaWatch section of the bump list:

OFFICIAL BUMP(TOPIC) LIST

and you can go there to find what I have indexed.... I do add items of interest when I see them.

... but I am glad you have seen past the smoke-screen generated by the usual suspects in our media. They have tried to portray the situation in southern Africa as a clone of our own civil-rights struggles when in fact just the opposite was true. Africa is degenerating into chaos and anarchy under the guise of "liberation" and "one man, one vote." All while the media here turns a blind eye to what is really happening.

What I used to tell people was that while Apartheid was an onerous, offensive system, I would prefer being a black South African under Apartheid to being a person of any color under the old Soviet system- and I still believe those words to be true and correct. Given time, the old South African government would have worked out it's problems- but it was not allowed to do so.

Today, we are seeing the results of this folly in Zimbabwe- or rather, we see what tiny bits the web and small elements of talk radio cover.

The whole story of contemporary Africa is a sad tale of tribalism, class warfare, and massive corruption- and one the media here "won't even talk about" because it does not fit within their template of acceptable ideas.

---

Here's Rob Noel's take:

First it was Rhodesia then SA now America paying the price of silence.

---

Recently I noted:

I truly hate to say, or even mention it, but I fear what is happening in Rhodesia will be the model for South Africa. What you have there is a state slipping from the rule of ( English-style ) Law into a state of tribalism- ruled by one corrupt & murderous strongman, who will naturally pander & cater to large groups that will help him cling to power. In such a system, minorities have "rights" only on a whim, which may be revoked instantly for no reason.

[bert]

Civilization is dieing in Africa. There is a Bronze age retromovement.

[Clive]

Agreed.

Perhaps Africa has to go back to tribalism and tribal warfare to re-set the ethnic boundaries and get rid of the vicious totalitarian regimes that have replaced the colonial powers.

The process will be a bloody one.

I look for Thermidor but I despair that it will arrive in my lifetime.

I have said, reluctantly, that southern Africa needs another Chaka.

[backhoe]

You are right of course, but it's a pitiful thing to bear witness to- and that's about all we can do. They are going to learn very quickly the folly of turning formerly-productive farms over to subsistence farmers who will rapidly deplete the land.

And the scuttling of the rule of law may benefit those at the top, but all others will groan under its loss.

[backhoe]

The process will be a bloody one

No doubt... others here have speculated there will be a "great dying"- de-population was how they put it. I am not sure I can see any way around that happening- the twin scourges of disease and corrupt, murderous governments are hard to beat.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Rhodesia will be the model for South Africa.

Unfortunately history has demonstrated that this can happen anywhere tyrants can rise and enlist sufficient others in their evil, and the remainder cannot or will not fight.

[MonroeDNA]

No more enabling of these tin pot racist dictators. Let their countries deal with the consequences.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Even though neighboring Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique are among the famine victims, South Africa so far has not been touched by the drought. This is fortunate, because South Africa is a huge granary. From there, surplus food can be easily trucked as far north as Zambia."

Give it time---South Africa too will go the way of Zimbabwe. It is already devolving at a drastic pace.

[bert]

They will not learn. The destructive forces will carry away the capacity to learn and to remember.

[Rate_Determining_Step]

Whether it directs its words to the governments in Zimbabwe, Malawi or Zambia, Washington should advocate sane long-term agricultural policies, responsiveness to the public opinion and transparency to prevent fraud.

Washington should advocate liberty and capitalism.

Look at that blather! They say:

Washington should

1. advocate sane long-term agricultural policies
2. responsiveness to the public opinion
3. transparancy to prevent fraud

Where has Mugabe's regiem failed on the above "expert" advice?

#1? Maybe.
#2? I think he's pretty good here. He's being pretty responsive to public opinion.
#3? Transarancy? They invade and shoot farmers in plain daylight. No opaqueness here.

Maybe they mean Mugabe should just try harder.

Morons!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

You're all right. The situation is now in the hands of the people. Will they be able to defeat terrorism coupled with media apathy, celebrities silenced by ignorance, and international emotional exhaustion for African famines? It doesn't look good but these are situations that make heros and occasionally renew our belief in the human spirit. I wonder if anything is going on behind the scenes to assist the opposition?

What the war "veterns" will do now that Mugabe has double-crossed them and is moving them off the farms? Mugabe is hell-bent on co-opting Morgan T's sizeable party of opposition. Will the opposition grow or will it surrender and/or die off? It looks like the opposition has become the designated block of people who won't eat while Mugabe sets up his cronies, family, friends and allies with vast estates that once were productive farms.

How can you help a country where an illegal, corrupt government has no regard for the worth of the individual? Communism is not a viable form of government and governing is not what is happening in Zimbabwe. Theft, terrorism, murder and genocide is what is happening in Zimbabwe.

[Centurion2000]

Civilization is dieing in Africa. There is a Bronze age retromovement.

More like Stone Age. Bet they fall that far with samples of modern tech in the mix.

Let them fall.

[Robert-J]

I agree, let them fall.

Maybe we are being protected. White Westerners, who are the carriers of civilization, are not reproducing in sufficient numbers.

Third worlders, including the religion of peace people, threaten to overrun the planet, as they breed like rabbits. If this happens, man's future will not be bright. Progress will be brought to a halt, and the world will become a most unpleasant place to live.

So, maybe there is a reason for the self-destruction of Africa. And maybe there is also a reason for the pending war between India and Pakistan. A depopulation of much of the Third World would help preserver our future.

[dougherty]

Let Bono feed them. Let him open up his wallet and feed them with HIS money. I'm sick of that guy and everyone else thinking our tax money belongs to the whole damn world.