13 June 2009
President Barack Obama has welcomed Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to the Oval Office in Washington, DC, with a U.S. $73 million aid package for Zimbabwe. But he refused to give it directly to the unity government "because we continue to be concerned about consolidating democracy, human rights, and rule of law," he said.
For his part, Tsvangirai told reporters at the end of his Friday meeting with Obama that he recognized that "even by the standard of our own benchmarks, there are gaps that still exist..."
He said he told Obama that his participation in the the unity government with President Robert Mugabe was "a journey".
"This is a transitional arrangement," Tsvangirai said. "We want to institute those reforms that will ensure that in 18 months' time the people of Zimbabwe are given an opportunity to elect their own government.... We continue to engage in ensuring that [external humanitarian]... support consolidates the process towards democratic change."
A transcript of their remarks, as released by the White House and amended on the basis of a live recording of PM Tsvangirai's remarks, follows:
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I want to welcome Prime Minister Tsvangirai to the Oval Office. He and his delegation have been meeting with my team throughout the day. I obviously have extraordinary admiration for the courage and the tenacity that the Prime Minister has shown in navigating through some very difficult political times in Zimbabwe.
There was a time when Zimbabwe was the bread basket of Africa and continues to have enormous potential. It has gone through a very dark and difficult period politically. The President -- President Mugabe -- I think I've made my views clear, has not acted oftentimes in the best interest of the Zimbabwean people and has been resistant to the kinds of democratic changes that need to take place.
We now have a power-sharing agreement that shows promise, and we want to do everything we can to encourage the kinds of improvement not only on human rights and rule of law, freedom of the press and democracy that is so necessary, but also on the economic front.
The people of Zimbabwe need very concrete things -- schools that are reopened, a health care delivery system that can deal with issues like cholera or HIV/AIDS, an agricultural system that is able to feed its people. And on all these fronts, I think the Prime Minister is committed to significant concrete improvement in the day-to-day lives of the people of Zimbabwe.
I congratulate him -- they've been able to bring inflation under control after hyperinflation that was really tearing at the fabric of the economy. We're starting to see slowly some improvements in capacity -- industrial capacity there. So, overall, in a very difficult circumstance, we've seen progress from the Prime Minister.
We are grateful to him. We want to encourage him to continue to make progress. The United States is a friend to the people of Zimbabwe. I've committed $73 million in assistance to Zimbabwe. It will not be going through the government directly because we continue to be concerned about consolidating democracy, human rights, and rule of law, but it will be going directly to the people in Zimbabwe and I think can be of assistance to the Prime Minister in his efforts.
He's going to continue to provide us with direction in ways that he thinks we can be helpful. And I'm grateful to him for his leadership, for his courage, and I'm looking forward to being a partner with him in the years to come.
Mr. Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER TSVANGIRAI: Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. President. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for receiving us. I'm sure that -- I want to take the opportunity of congratulating you, although belatedly, for being elected the President. And I think it's a profound experience for some of us who are committed to change, and hopefully that -- the Prime Minister, who is committed to change, and the President, who is committed to change, find common convergence position.
I've been explaining to the President that Zimbabwe is coming out of a political conflict and economic collapse or decay, and that the new political dispensation we have crafted is an attempt to arrest this decay, but also mindful of the fact that it is a journey. This is a transitional arrangement. We want to institute those reforms that will ensure that in 18 months' time the people of Zimbabwe are given an opportunity to elect their own government.
Yes, there has been a lot of progress made by the transitional government, but there are also problems. It is the problems of implementation, and I do recognize that even by the standard of our own benchmarks, there are gaps that still exist and that we will strive. And I want to show my -- to express my commitment that we will strive to implement those benchmarks, not because they are for the international community but because for ourselves it gives people of Zimbabwe freedom and opportunity to grow.
I want to say, lastly, I want to thank you for that demonstrable leadership in assisting the people of Zimbabwe and I want to take this opportunity to thank the humanitarian support that the West -- we have experienced over the years and the continued expression of support. And of course we continue to engage in ensuring that that support consolidates the process towards democratic change, rather than strengthens a reverse and defense of the status quo.
Thank you very much, Mr. President.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you so much. Thank you, everybody. Have a great weekend.
NOTE: Since first publication of this report, the text of PM Tsvangirai's remarks has been amended by AllAfrica on the basis of recordings published by the BBC and the White House.
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Zimbabweans of all walks of life should strive to work for tangible democracy, rule of law and human rights. Anything less to this benchmark leads to corruption and total unfairness. It is now important for us as Zimbabweans to work hard to eliminate all sources of corruption and prepare ourselves for equal opportunities. It is also this time that we should be realistic and do away with such stupid myths like obtaining diesel directly from the ground without the need for refineries. Our Children should now go to school so that we can develop a worthwhile resource base for the country, not what we have experienced in the past few years where pseudo war credentials qualifies one to be an economist, industrial expert or international relations expert. Let us slot ourselves appropriately within the fabric of our society and indeed in the world.
Tsvangi used to claim that he held keys to unlock the economic sanctions he called for to Zimbabwe..What happenned to those keys?,The imposers have changed locks, they're refusing to lift the economic sanctions with rigid determination..All they now do is hype about humanitarian aid becoz of a guilty conscience of the untold suffering their economic embargo is inflicting on innocent zimbabweans..This western induced suffering was mearnt to catapult that evil serpent-tsvangi to power make zimbabwe a western client state ruled by white house and 10 downing street who would reverse the gains of our revolution like the land reclamation..The British and Dutch settler farmers, The United States, Britain who poured huge amounts of money into MDC never imagined the possibility of their stooge-tsvangi being in the same gvt with people they were trying to depose..Tsvangi was catapulted to premier position thru sanctions but he has failed to give his western backers what they wanted that is President Mugabe's head, and land..People of Zim will set up a new constitution that will finnally seal the land reform once and for all..
Mabhiza You are right brother, what MDC havs to contend with is the fact that sanctions makes a nation difficult to manage. It is sinister to assume Zimbabweans will be mesmerised by peanuts, and forget the source of our crisis.
The MDC induced sanctions have been meant to discredit Government and people of Zimbabwe will realise that true statesmanship is not brought in by illicitly inviting enemies to destroy the family silver. There are better ways of campaigning for support or sympathy. We might have been in a better position now. They are learning the hard way.
Moyondizvo no one has to destroy you Mugabe, Zanu-pf and your loyalists to them are doing just fine on your own... Stop crying about how the rest of the world is your problems when the root of the problem is within Zimbabwe and until the root of the problem is removed no matter how much people give the people of Zim will suffer..
Takunya, Mabhiza, Moyondizvo
Why do you create three people when we know you are only 1? You all spurt the same nonsense that you would have to be a brainwashed individual, so brainwashed that there could not possibly be more than one of you.
There is no 'economic embargo' on Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans are free to trade with whoever they chose.
Why are you so stupid to think that the fact your money is frozen in a foreign bank account has something to with the MDC? Do you think your rigging of elections, murder and torture of innocent Zimbabweans and theft of the nations coffers was going to go unnoticed by the outside world?
There are some very very stupid people in this world.
Awt, you too are very stupid when it comes to the word "sanctions" You loose your intellegency and become a fool, who wants to believe what they want to believe.
Phiri:
You are correct, sad to say, about "sanctions", technically..............
The limitations on the ability of companies who also do business in the U.S. also now need to consider whether trading with Zimbabwe carries risks to their U.S. business - that has a dampening effect on investment in Zimbabwe.
But for the U.S., it's an internal matter, you have no right to lecture us on who we choose or choose not to to business with.
Next, U.S. Legislation does actually require the U.S. to oppose the extension of the Balance of Payments support from the IMF to Banks in Zimbabwe - this creates a financial bottleneck for financial transactions in/out of Zimbabwe - this has an additional "chilling-effect" on those who might wish to do business in ZImbabwe.
But again, the actual "sanctions" Zimbabwe is technically facing is/are restrictions against those who have been financially involved with the continued reign of ZANU-PooF. The sanctions themselves are actually against those on the "blacklist". The rest of Zimbabwe is free to trade with the outside world.
..... albeit the lack of Balance of Payments support from the IMF makes this a difficult proposition for most Zimbabweans to actually trade with the rest of the world...........
Yeah, there ARE limited sanctions on ZImbabwe - targetted at the 200-300 or so ZANU-PooF sycophants Comrade Bob has built up into his cult of personality. That those same 200-300 people are the ONLY economic lifeline the people of Zimbabwe have at the present time is lamentable.
The "sanctions" and their corresponding "chilling-effect" on the rest of the financial markets are warning investment AND aid away from Zimbabwe at the current time.
AND, as a citizen of the United States, I have written to both of my Senators and my Representative, demanding that they deny ANY funding to development aid in Zimbabwe until greater progress has been made towards the restoration of the free right of expression and the protection of individual liberty! I also requested that they support continued and increased humanitarian aid to improve public sanitation, education and health.
Yeah, we sanctioned those who were sucking Zimbabwe dry, and those who would kiss-up to the kleptocracy would say, "you're a racist, you're a Rhoadie"! when I was neither......
"We"...... the "West"..... have merely considered with whom we do not wish to trade............. It's an "internal" matter - don't even begin to lecture US on how we should spend our foreign aid!
Yes, there ARE "sanctions". They ARE "targetted" against less than 300 people who have materially benefitted from the reign of ZANU-PooF. Because the wealth of Zimbabwe has been so concentrated into the hands of those who are friends of Comrade Bob or his ZANU-PooF sycophants (who coincidentally control most of the wealth of Zimbabwe), those "sanctions" DO have the effect of chilling the investment environment of Zimbabwe - thus, the people of Zimbabwe suffer.
My main point over these many months is exactly THAT! How is it that "sanctions" against less than 300 people can "chill" the economic ability of a people like Zimbabwe's?
Doesn't that beg the question of whether the wealth of Zimbabwe is concentrated in the hands of too few?
Yes, there ARE "sanctions". Yes, they ARE "targetted" against less than 300 supporters of ZANU-PooF/Mugabe. No, they are NOT agaist the people of Zimbabwe but the concentration of wealth in Zimbabwe effectively means the "sanctions" are felt by ALL Zimbabweans. No, NO money is coming to Zimbabwe until there is a restitution of the rule of law that the rest of us in the real world can respect.
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