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Talk to Mugabe - Mwanawasa
29/09/2007 13:49 - (SA)
Little Rock, Arkansas - Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa said on Friday that while the seizures of land from white commercial farmers in Zimbabwe were "a bit harsh", opposition forces brought the push by President Robert Mugabe upon themselves.
In a speech at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, Mwanawasa held to his stance that Western powers must be willing to talk to Mugabe. Britain has called on the Southern African Development Community to ask Mugabe not to attend a December summit of European and African leaders.
Mwanawasa, as head of the development community, has said talking to Mugabe would be the only way to address concerns.
"Those of you abroad ... consider the answer is there must be real change. There must be a new initiative to bring about change," Mwanawasa told students. "But I have a message for you, that dialogue is the most important tool. You talk to him, give him your message and let him talk, let him speak, and you'll find you'll be getting better results."
Mugabe pushed for the often violent seizures by blacks of thousands of white-owned commercial farms. Those seizures which began in 2000 disrupted agriculture in a country once considered southern Africa's breadbasket, causing official inflation of nearly 7 000% and citizens to flee.
"The issue in Zimbabwe is over land," Mwanawasa said. "They took things in a manner in which you and I might say is wrong ... it was a bit harsh. But I think those in the opposition invited it."
Mugabe responded to the domestic pressures with a crackdown on dissent. Britain estimates that 100 000 Zimbabweans a month are fleeing their homeland, a country of 12.5m, to settle illegally in neighbouring South Africa.
Mwanawasa travelled to Arkansas to give a speech at Harding University in Searcy and received an honorary doctorate from the private Christian college.
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