Cablegate: Media Report Zdera; Harare

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS HARARE 001990

SIPDIS

AF/PD FOR COX, ROBERTSON, AF/S FOR KRAFT, AF/RA FOR
SWANN, INR/R/MR, NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM
SUBJECT: MEDIA REPORT ZDERA; HARARE

1. The December 31 edition of the government-
controlled daily "Chronicle" characterized the signing
of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act
(ZDERA) of 2001 by President George Bush as "an open
declaration of war." Under headline "A declaration of
war," the paper comments:

2. "The signing of the ZDERA by U.S. President,
George W. Bush is an open declaration of war. The
protagonists are the Bush administration on the one
hand and the ZANU PF government on the other. The
'grass' which usually suffers are Zimbabweans as
Americans are too far away from the 'front.' War-
monger Bush has made many mistakes barely 100 days into
office, but affixing his signature to the Sanctions
Bill, crafted by racist pro-Rhodesians in the U.S.
Senate, is his worst and most unforgivable. He has
shown Zimbabweans what to expect from the trigger-happy
White House in the days to come. There is no doubt in
our minds that the Sanctions Bill is meant to cow the
government and ruling party into submission. It is
meant to bring the government down so that a puppet,
who will dance to the Bush tune, will be installed.
The message to Bush and those misguided senators still
swimming in bigotry is - we will not be a banana
republic. The Zimbabwe government. . .will not cringe.
Zimbabweans cannot be intimidate. We now know the
enemy and we are more than prepared to hit them hard,
make no mistake about that."

SULLIVAN

© Scoop Media