Selling Zimbabwe

The great Claudia Rosett (she has been onto the Oil for Food scam since the beginning) is onto Mugabe now (I am proud to say that her article echoes a lot of the opinions expressed by yours truly in a previous post):

In describing this scene, the U.N. report provides a wealth of horrifying detail, but takes a detour around the basic cause, which is not, as the report concludes, such stuff as "improper advice" acted upon by "over-zealous officials." The real cause is the long and ruinous rule of Mugabe and his cronies.

In the meantime, Mugabe is busy preparing to receive Kofi Annan:

Harare - Zimbabwe has resumed destroying homes and has flattened the country's biggest slum, witnesses said on Tuesday, a day after United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said he plans to visit the country to discuss the controversial demolition campaign.

Of course, Zimbabwe's problems are not his fault:

Zimbabwe's rapid economic decline over the past six years is likely unprecedented for a country not at war, says the World Bank's director for the country.
Once the mainstay of the economy, agriculture contributed 40% to Zimbabwe's national exports, made up 18% of the gross domestic product, employed 30% of the formal labour force and 70% of the population. - Reuters

To correct the situation (in his sick mind caused by Blair or whatever) he is selling the country to his new colonial masters:

The details have not been made public but China was expected to seek mineral and other trade concessions in exchange for economic help.

At least someone in South Africa is worried about Zimbabwe; this should catch Mbeki's attention:

The official opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has today launched a "Stop the Mugabe Loan Campaign" in Cape Town. This campaign, according to the Democratic Alliance, is an attempt to stop the governmentfrom giving Zimbabwe government the loan which is estimated at R6.5 million.

As the pressure on Mugabe is at last slowly increasing, small rats are abandoning ship:

Meanwhile, in a move showing a crack in the solidarity of the developing world, which up to now has been silent on the situation in Zimbabwe, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has voiced concern about Mugabe’s clean-up campaign.

Let's keep the pressure on this tottering fool.

Zimbabwe