Paper praises France for its stance on Zimbabwe

The Daily Mirror praised France for inviting Zimbabwe to the Franco-African summit in Paris saying France had a clearer vision of present day international relations than Britain and the United States.

“Of late, France appears to be gaining an upper hand with its successful stand against Britain over Zimbabwe, in the European Union over Turkey and against the U.S.A. in the U.N. Security Council over war on Iraq. The sum total of all these confrontations appears to lead to the conclusion that France has a clearer vision of present day international relations than Britain and America have,” the paper said.

Full cable:

Viewing cable 03HARARE357, PRO-GOVERNMENT PAPER HAILS FRANCE AS A

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UNCLAS HARARE 000357

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS

AF/S FOR RAYNOR

NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER

LONDON FOR GURNEY

PARIS FOR NEARY

NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER

E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: PREL KPAO ZI

SUBJECT: PRO-GOVERNMENT PAPER HAILS FRANCE AS A

“SUPERPOWER”

¶1.   Under headline “The Franco-African summit” the

pro-government daily “The Daily Mirror” dedicated

its February 20 editorial to hailing France for

shooting down plans for a war against Iraq and for

inviting Mr. Robert Mugabe to attend the

Franco-African summit in Paris, saying “France has a

clearer vision of present day international

relations than Britain and America.” Excerpts

follow:

¶2.   “. . .Of late, France appears to be gaining an upper

hand with its successful stand against Britain over

Zimbabwe, in the European Union over Turkey and

against the U.S.A. in the U.N. Security Council over

war on Iraq. The sum total of all these

confrontations appears to lead to the conclusion

that France has a clearer vision of present day

international relations than Britain and America

have. That is why other powerful nations such as

Germany, Russia and China are firmly behind France

especially on its stance against war on Iraq. Some

analysts have even said that there are now two

superpowers in the world, the United States on the

one hand, and the rest of the world led by France,

on the other. And if Mugabe’s attendance of the

Franco-African summit means that Zimbabwe is aligned

to the latter superpower, why not?

SULLIVAN

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