Cablegate: Government Paper Says U.S. Is Financing "Anti-

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

UNCLAS HARARE 002106

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/PD, AF/S, AF/RA
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER
LONDON FOR GURNEY
PARIS FOR NEARY
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PHUM KPAO ZI
SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT PAPER SAYS U.S. IS FINANCING "ANTI-
GOVERNMENT NGOS"

1. The September 17 edition of the government-
controlled daily Bulawayo "Chronicle" carries a page-
one, above-the-fold story entitled "Unholy alliance:
Washington finances anti-government NGOs." Excerpts
follow.

2. "The U.S. Government is assisting non-
governmental organizations in Zimbabwe to open off-
shore accounts in the British Isles so that they can
circumvent exchange control regulations and conceal
their sources of funding, `Chronicle' learnt this
week. The Open Society Institute for Southern Africa
(OSISA), funded by Hungarian-born American
billionaire, Mr. George Soros, has been financing
pirate radio stations in Zimbabwe in a bid to
destabilize the country. Investigations by `Chronicle'
have revealed that the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) has, through an agent identified
as Brett Hurst, been assisting NGOs to open off-shore
accounts in the British Isles where millions of
dollars in `aid' have been wired to Zimbabwe. Mr.
David Lush, the OSISA representative in Southern
Africa, has been coordinating financing for anti-
government NGOs from his base in Johannesburg.

"`Chronicle' has established that America
played a pivotal role in financing anti-
government pirate radio stations with its
destabilization wing - the Office of
Transitional Initiatives (OTS) - heavily
involved in fanning `hate propaganda' prior to
the March presidential elections. Two U.S.
senators also secretly slipped into the country
in June last year and met representatives of
the Radio Dialogue Trust FM at a Bulawayo
hotel. Three nationals, Messrs Eden Egan from
PACT - an arm of USAID, Hurst and Scott (from
the OTI) - have been instrumental in
coordinating NGO activity in the country. The
U.S. government has announced it is working
with South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana to
topple the government of Zimbabwe. But the
three Southern African states have flatly
denied the claims. . . Sources alleged that
Mr. Hurst is an agent of USAID and assists NGOs
to open offshore accounts so that they can
circumvent exchange control regulations and
conceal their sources of funding. . . ."

SULLIVAN

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