Mugabe admitts there is famine

Mugabe has admitted for the first time that famine exists in Zimbabwe. ‘There is hunger in the country and a shortage of food,’ he was quoted as saying. He was responding at a rally at the weekend to appeals from western regional governor Angeline Masuku and local ruling party functionaries who had ‘pleaded’ with Mugabe ‘to ensure the speedy distribution of food in the province as people were running out of food’. According to a report on the News24 site, observers said the admission was unprecedented as Mugabe had previously dismissed reports of famine as ‘Western propaganda’.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe has invited 47 regional and sub-regional organisations as well as countries from Africa, Asia, the Americas and one European country – Russia – to observe the election. Briefing ambassadors from China, countries in the Non-Aligned Movement and Western diplomats resident in Zimbabwe on the forthcoming election, Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said the observers were selected on the basis of 'reciprocity, objectivity and impartiality' in their relationship with Zimbabwe. According to a Mail & Guardian Online report, all 13 Southern African Development Community states have been invited alongside 10 other African countries, among them Senegal, Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, N igeria, Ghana, Libya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Sudan. The US and EU both imposed sanctions on Mugabe and his inner circle after they alleged that he had rigged his re-election in 2002. Mugabe pulled his country out of the Commonwealth in December 2003 after the organisation of predominantly former British colonies announced plans to extend Zimbabwe's suspension imposed after the presidential polls. The MDC deplored what it said was a biased selection of observer groups for the latest election. Mugabe has frequently accused the West of bankrolling the MDC and of seeking regime change in Zimbabwe. Mugabe said he saw no reason why countries such as the US should monitor the ballot as Zimbabwe had never been invited to monitor elections for the White House.