Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Caesar Zvayi
3 July 2009
Sirte — PRESIDENT Mugabe yesterday met United States Under-Secretary of State for African Affairs Mr Johnnie Carson and Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo on the sidelines of the 13th Ordinary Session of the African Union General Assembly here.
The meeting with Mr Carson was the first time in several years that a senior member of the US administration has met President Mugabe.
Sources who attended the meeting said the President had a frank discussion with Mr Carson who requested the meeting, and was briefed on the process that led to the formation of the inclusive Government, its current state and the working relations between the three parties involved.
President Mugabe, the sources said, told Mr Carson that the Government was working well.
The meeting comes in the wake of recent attempts by some in the West to trash the inclusive Government by claiming that it was failing to meet set "benchmarks" even though all the parties that signed the Global Political Agreement have given the arrangement a clean bill of health and pledged their commitment to resolving any problems arising from the implementation of the agreement among themselves.
During Prime Minister Tsvangirai's recent tour of Western capitals, the "benchmarks" were cited as an excuse to maintain the illegal sanctions regime on Zimbabwe and to deny the country development support.
Mr Carson, a career African-American diplomat, served as US ambassador to Zimbabwe between 1995 and 1997, and ended his tenure just before the bilateral dispute over land with Britain flared up.
There were no details of the President's meeting with his Equatorial Guinea counterpart.
Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea enjoy cordial relations and Zimbabwe's security forces were instrumental in apprehending a planeload of mercenaries who were on their way to Malabo, the E. Guinea capital, to try to unseat Mr Nguema's government.
The summit, being held under the theme "Investing in Agriculture for Economic Growth and Food Security", enters its third and final day today with the leaders expected to come up with a common position on agriculture and a solid framework for food security.
AU Commissioner for Agricultural Develop-ment Ms Rhoda Peace has stressed the need to integrate the market for agricultural produce on the continent in light of unfair agricultural practices employed by Western nations that see African farmers failing to compete with their Western counterparts on the international market.
She also urged the leaders to work to convert the continent's annual US$33 billion food importation bill into investment in agriculture.
The leaders are also expected to pronounce themselves firmly on the fragile peace and security situation plaguing various African countries, among them Madagascar, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone and Somalia. Also expected in the final communiqué is a strong African rebuke of the ICC arrest warrant issued against Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, who is in attendance here.
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Thanks to the mediation of Tsvangirai, Criminal Mugabe's plea to rub shoulders with the Gringos has materialised.
Will ZANU-PF appreciate Tsvangirai's mediation? I doubt it.
Prem, appreciation from Zanu-pf...!! I do not think so.
Oh dear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! laughable stuff. Tsvangirai's mediation?????? I think you missed this one. Obama had been ill advised on his diplomatic blunders during Tsvangirai's visit to the US. Hillary Clinton showed such diplomatic prowess and maturity by welcoming Mzembi , yet Obama instead did the opposite. Obama was later informed of this mistake if the US was to be seen to be advancing the GNU mandate. Hillary made this clear on the postmortem meeting they had at the oval office. Carson requested this meeting with His Excellency and not the other way round'. Carson stressed to Obama at the oval office that President Mugabe was a larger part of the solution than otherwise which, of course Tsvangirai overtly spelt out during his tour. Carson was there to mend fences. To suggest that the President got this opportunity because Tsvangirai mediated is nonsensical and utter rubbish.
If I understood the article well, Carson requested for the meeting. Certainly, there is nothing to thank Tsvangirai for because if Carson himself wanted to see President Mugabe that ultimately means that the African freedom fighter never went begging to see a representative of the imperialist tormentors of the African people, so grow up you pathetic liar,Prem the great liar on this thread,that said and hold,s on to the lie that there was never any sanctions placed on the Zimbabwean people,the grand deceiver on this thread,the most pathetic piece propagandist.Ultimately, we conclude that you either grow up ,go find something else to do or simply go hang for your habit of twisting facts to please your masters in the west.
Dear Prem(ature),
Please grow and be pragmatic and true to the people of Zimbabwe. Much of what you portray is terribly malicious and pathetic. It is like you haven't heard of this country, its history and its true heroes. You really deny yourself and your race the truth and the ills of colonisation. Where were you when Zimbabwe went through hell under the white man?
Read again the article, you might have your own personal reasons for hating HE the President and Zanu Pf with a passion but it is not fair to deny the truth that Carson served in Zimbabwe and he fully knows what bedevilled the economic situation in Zimbabwe, the sanctions, the campaigns by the opposition and the West to the present day. He has been at pains to explain to Obama what sort of a man President Mugabe is to the people of Zimbabwe, how is respected and loved for the struggle and black empowerment, for being principled and firm. In any case where did Tsvangirai mediate and I am sure you were informed properly on his trip tothe West? Your friend Phiri expects gratitude from Zanu Pf for Tsvangirai's 'mediation'? Mese muri vaviri munorwara, mazvinzwa ?
Carson sought to meet HE in Sirte and brother rafil(above) has surely brought the scenario for your appreciation. Why would HE seek audience with Carson? Our President has principles to stick to, respect and ready to die for, so he has no apology to Obama and his American kith and kin. So get your facts right and be realistic and principled too. As for your chat with Phiri above, that is cheap.
Moyondizvo !
The bootlicker praising the tyrant!! It's just that!
Where were you when criminal Mugabe caused to kill, rape and maim? Yet you find courage to defend what is undefendable!!
Over 4 millions of your brothers and sisters ran away from the terror of tyrant Mugabe! He is no more than the illegitimate president of a rotten banana republic!
I better stop reminding you about the horrors of theis bloodstained Mugabe. You know much more, but you choose to keep silent over the very embarrassing crimes of Mugabe.
That's your choice. That is why you get people like me to come raise awareness worldwide about the tyrant's crime!
Since you are on a campaign trail for regime change, all the luck to you. The issue under discussion has been distorted by you and Phiri. Why do you imply that Tsvangirai mediated in a bid that saw the President meeting the US's Carson as if HE had anything to do with the need to meet the Americans? President Mugabe does not owe the Americans anything and infact Carson requested the meeting with the President. Get this clear. You further suggest that ZANU PF should be grateful to Tsvangirai for having done so. The fact is that Tsvangirai was not on a mediation campaign at all. He was in the US to request the lifting of sanctions on Zimbabwe. The whole world knows that. So why twist issues to suit you and your colleagues? Why do you lie openly like this? Talk on the article concerned. People will not respect your opinion in future because you even change statements and facts that they read, bare facts that are before them. They wonder as to whether you are turning into a joke or something. You now renege on the issue at stake and you talk of other issues that are not a subject under discussion. I know you hate the President and ZANU PF with such passion but you could have expressed your sentiments on this meeting rather that simply lie.
The Minister of Promises and Assurances has confirmed that uncle bob really, really and truly promises he wont dip his hand into the cashbox again, honestly. If he does, the minister is reported to say that he promises to give up all of his ill gotten gains to the Sisters of Charity, a Hong Kong registered organization. The Sisters address appears to be similar to that of a condo purchased by bob's close relative; we were assured that this was a mere coincidence.