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Starving in Zimbabwe 'amounts to genocide'
Sebastien Berger, The Telegraph (UK)
August 21, 2007

http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=17216

Zimbabweans are starving to death on a scale equivalent to genocide, a top opposition MP claimed yesterday. Four million people will need food aid by the end of the year, the World Food Programme said earlier this month, as President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF government oversees the fastest-shrinking economy in the world. David Coltart, a senior member of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said there was "no doubt" Zimbabweans were already starving to death. "Arguably this is the world's greatest humanitarian crisis," he told The Daily Telegraph. "Zimbabwe has the lowest life expectancy in the world: 34 for women and 37 for men. To use a legal term, I would say this amounts to genocide with constructive intent. In terms of a complete disregard for the plight of people, not caring whether there is wholesale loss of life, it amounts to genocide."

Some observers believe that an internal coup in Mr Mugabe's divided Zanu PF party is the best, if not only, hope for change. But Mr Coltart, a lawyer and the MP for Bulawayo South, said: "I don't believe you can predict he will be gone in six months. It has been a mistake many have predicted in the past. If Zanu PF are happy with the notion of a vastly reduced economy with a powerful ruling elite living in a sea of poverty, then it is sustainable. There are several reasons Mr Mugabe has survived for so long. Few African leaders are prepared to openly condemn him despite the fact that, as Mr Coltart pointed out, "the overwhelming majority of the people who are dying as a result of the regime's policies are black Africans".

Such sentiments were echoed by Kofi Annan, the former UN secretary-general, last month. "Africans must guard against a pernicious, self-destructive form of racism that unites citizens to rise up and expel tyrannical rulers who are white, but to excuse tyrannical rulers who are black," he said.

Zanu PF officials never miss an opportunity to denounce what they call the West's "illegal sanctions", blaming them for the country's turmoil - even though they only amount to a visa ban and asset freezes on named individuals. "They have convinced Africa that Zimbabwe's battle is Africa's battle - that this is about race and land and imperialism," said Mr Coltart, 49.

The situation was exemplified by last week's Southern African Development Community summit in Zambia, where Mr Mugabe was welcomed with thunderous applause. The meeting discussed a rescue package for the country, and could not agree on conditions to attach to it.

It made no criticism of his rule. Internally, too, Mr Mugabe's position is reinforced by historical and geographical factors. "This country has been through two civil wars in living memory and most people will do almost anything to avoid another," said Mr Coltart.

Zimbabwe has "safety valves" in South Africa and Botswana, he added. "Young people can vent their anger by going south. So you don't have the people who would be the vanguard of any uprising." But probably the main factor in Mr Mugabe's survival is, ironically, the very people who have fled his rule. With unemployment around 80 per cent, by some estimates three-quarters of Zimbabweans earning a living are doing so abroad, and their families survive on the money they send home. The funds also support the remains of the economy.

Opposition figures say the remittances help the government survive, but do not condemn those sending money. "They have no choice," said Mr Coltart. "Only a dreadful choice between wanting the regime gone and keeping their families alive."

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