Mugabe told US: Zvavakaita kuIraq havangambozviedza muno

President Robert Mugabe is reported to have warned the United States and Britain not to invade Zimbabwe saying it would be their children who would die first.

“Zvavakaita kuIraq havangambozviedza muno. Anotanga kufa vana vavo muno,” he is reported to have said in Shona meaning they can never try to do what they did in Iraq because it is their children here who will die first.

Full cable:

Viewing cable 03HARARE1467, MEDIA REPORT U. S./ ZIM RELATIONS; HARARE

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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS HARARE 001467

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS

NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER

LONDON FOR GURNEY

PARIS FOR NEARY

NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER

E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: PREL KPAO KMDR ZI

SUBJECT: MEDIA REPORT U. S./ ZIM RELATIONS; HARARE

¶1.   Back-to-back leading articles in the July 20 and 21

editions of the independent weekly “The Daily News

on Sunday” and its sister daily “The Daily News,”

respectively, focus on the failing relations between

the United States and Zimbabwe. Excerpts follow:

¶2.   The July 20 edition of the independent weekly “The

Daily News on Sunday” focuses on an eerie blackmail

statement by Robert Mugabe in which he warns the

United States and the United Kingdom against

invading Zimbabwe, saying if attacked “it will be

their children who will be the first to die.” Under

headline “Mugabe warns U. S.: `Attack us, we will

kill your children'” Godwin Mangudya, Senior

Reporter, reports:

“As the U. S. and British pressure mounted on

President Robert Mugabe to step down a fortnight

ago, he told his supporters the children of the two

countries’ citizens in Zimbabwe would be the first

to die if they invaded this country as they did in

Iraq. Mugabe, facing political and economic

turmoil, said Zimbabwe was ready to retaliate if the

¶U. S. and the UK, implacable critics of his

government’s skewed policies, deployed their

soldiers here to throw him out of power as they did

Saddam Hussein. Mugabe said in Shona: `Zvavakaita

kuIraq havangambozviedza muno. Anotanga kufa vana

vavo muno. (They will never attempt to do here what

they did in Iraq because it is their children who

will be the first to die.)’ He gave the warning at

a political rally in the Chivi South constituency in

Masvingo. . .The speech stunned many supporters, but

was not given prominence in the government media.

The privately owned media picked it up only after

being alerted by those who attended the rally. The

exact quotation was transcribed from a tape of the

speech made available to `The Daily News.’ Mugabe

did not elaborate on how the American and British

children would die. . . .”

¶3.   President George W. Bush’s inclusion of Zimbabwe among

rogue states in a proclamation issued to mark “Captive

Nations Week,” made the lead story in the July 21 edition

of the independent daily “The Daily News.”   Excerpts of

the article, picked from the South African-based News24

channel, follow:

“President George W. Bush on Friday hit out at six

regimes on a United States blacklist he said was

guilty of oppression and human rights abuses in

Myanmar, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, Zimbabwe and

Belarus. . .There were also harsh words for North

Korea, with which Washington has been locked in a

nuclear weapons showdown since October. . .”

`Violence, corruption, and mismanagement reign in

Zimbabwe. . .University of Zimbabwe (UZ) political

scientist Eldred Masinungure said Bush’s listing of

Zimbabwe among the rogue states such as Myanmar was

a sign of `the U. S.’s anxiety for a solution over

Zimbabwe’s slide into absolute authoritarian

rule. . . .”

SULLIVAN

(26 VIEWS)