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Zim cancels US aid
15/04/2007 14:44 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe's government has cancelled a United States assistance programme for parliamentary reforms over a report suggesting that Washington is working to oust President Robert Mugabe, a state newspaper said on Sunday.
Political relations between Mugabe's government and Western countries, but mainly the USand former colonial power Britain, have deteriorated sharply in the last three months over Zimbabwe's crackdown on the political opposition.
In a statement in the Sunday Mail newspaper, Zimbabwe Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma said the legislature had "terminated forthwith its agreement with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) following claims by the State Department that it is working with some portfolio committees of parliament to discredit the government."
US officials in Harare were not immediately available on Sunday to comment on the story, and details of how much aid the Zimbabwe parliament was receiving were not published.
"The attempts by the US government to create the
impression that one arm of the state, namely parliament, is
collaborating with a foreign government to undermine and
discredit its executive is gross misrepresentation, mischievous
and irresponsible," Zvoma said, adding the Zimbabwe parliament
was in control of all its programmes and policies.
Two weeks ago, the Zimbabwe government highlighted a US
State Department human rights report indicating that Washington
was working with opposition and civic groups, journalists and
the clergy "in an attempt to topple" Mugabe.
Washington, London and other Western powers say they are
merely trying to restore democracy in Zimbabwe.
Last month, Mugabe said Western powers critical of his
crackdown on the opposition could "go hang" and he threatened to
kick out Western diplomats accused of interfering in Zimbabwe's
domestic affairs.
Western nations called for more sanctions against Mugabe
after several opposition figures, including MDC leader Morgan
Tsvangirai, were badly beaten after being arrested while trying
to attend a March 11 protest rally.
Critics accuse Mugabe of plunging the southern African state
into a severe economic crisis through controversial policies.
But Mugabe, 83, and in power since independence, blames the
economic collapse of Zimbabwe's once thriving economy on Western
sabotage seeking to punish him for seizing and redistributing
white-owned farms to indigenous blacks.
- Reuters
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