Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Caesar Zvayi
3 December 2008
Doha — THE United States government is reported to have censured United Nations Secretary-General Mr Ban Ki-moon following his meeting with President Mugabe on the sidelines of the International Conference on Financing for Development, prompting the UN boss to explain himself in the Western media.
Cde Mugabe held one-on-one talks lasting about 30 minutes with Mr Ban.
Details of the meeting were not disclosed to the media, apparently at the discretion of the two leaders.
Though, by his own admission, Mr Ban held confidential talks that saw him refuse to entertain questions from Zimbabwean journalists at the venue, he later discussed the meeting with the New York-based Bloomberg News minutes after US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Ms Jendayi Frazer released a scathing statement condemning the meeting that just fell short of openly censuring the Secretary-General.
"It's extremely ironic and unacceptable for (Cde) Mugabe to be going to the UN Conference on Financing Development in Doha while you had the implosion of his economy and the crisis of his population taking place," Ms Frazer said in a statement.
Sources at the UN office said Washington took Mr Ban to task for meeting President Mugabe, which is why he went out of his way to explain himself in the media.
"I met with him (President Mugabe) about the deteriorating humanitarian situation and we discussed power-sharing," Mr Ban told Bloomberg News.
"I agreed with him not to talk publicly about what was said. It was one-on-one."
Mr Ban's readiness to discuss an apparently confidential meeting raised eyebrows.
It later emerged that the State Depart-ment had not been amused by the meeting and also by Cde Mugabe's address to the conference, shortly after the official opening on Saturday.
In his speech, President Mugabe catalogued the genesis of the prevailing socio-economic problems in Zimbabwe, at a time the US wanted the world to believe the problems stemmed from misrule and poor Government policies.
Though the Western countries have imposed a raft of economic sanctions on Zimbabwe, among them travel bans on Government leaders, the sanctions do not apply to UN forums and other multilateral gatherings, which is why President Mugabe attended last year's EU-Africa Summit in Lisbon, Portugal.
More so, the conference is taking place in
a Middle Eastern country, over which the sanctions regime has no force or effect.
Most importantly, the UN is supposed to be a sovereign institution not answerable to any member state.
The State Department statement and Mr Ban's readiness to explain himself raised concerns about the hold the US has over the world body and added impetus to calls for a reform of the institution.
President Mugabe is on record as advising Mr Ban against allowing his office to be abused by London and Washington in their fight with Zimbabwe.
Soon after meeting the Secretary-General on the sidelines of the 62nd General Assembly in New York last year, President Mugabe advised Mr Ban to safeguard the integrity of his office. This followed attempts by London and Washington to get the UN to send a humanitarian envoy to Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, the International Conference on Financing for Development to review the Monterrey Consensus ended yesterday with leaders expected to draw up a concrete plan of action to end the prevailing global recession and ensure that the developing world is insulated from the trickle-down effects of the financial crisis.
The Doha meeting drew over 40 heads of state and government from various parts of the world, though leaders of the developed world, which was expected to play a significant role in facilitating the implementation of the development targets set at the 2002 Monterrey Conference, were conspicuous by their absence.
The Group of Eight most developed countries was represented only by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, while the heads of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organisation did not turn up, raising concerns about the developed world's commitment to the development agenda.
The UN, under whose auspices the follow-up conference is being held, has called for a new global deal of co-ordinated, massive stimulus measures aligned with sustainable development and systemic reform of world finance, to address development challenges.
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Mr Ban Ki-moon should not waste his time entertaining Mugabe, because Mugabe believes Zimbabwe’s problems can only be solved by Africans. Mr Ban Ki-moon could be wasting his time Mugabe has said several times that Zimbabwe’s problem is an African problem and needs an African solution. Mugabe should not send mixed signals. Now that Zimbabwe has Cholera it needs an African solution. Short sighted indeed.