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| Africa: Subsaharan |
| Anger over Mugabe speech in Rome |
| 2005-10-17 |
| Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is to address the United Nations Food and Agriculture Association in Rome. The move has angered other governments. Zimbabwe is already struggling to feed an estimated 3.8m starving people in the rural areas, and has to import at least 37,000 tons of maize a week. The US ambassador to the FAO said he was amazed Mr Mugabe had been invited as he used food as a political weapon. Mr Mugabe is to address an international gathering as part of celebrations marking the FAO's 60th anniversary on Monday. The US ambassador to the FAO, Tony Hall, said he was amazed the organisation had invited a leader "who has done so much to hurt his own people." "Food has been used as a weapon against his own people," Mr Hall said. Mr Mugabe, who is exempt from an EU travel ban when on UN business, is due address an international gathering at the FAO headquarters later on Monday. Italian senator Sergio Agroni said Rome was welcoming "one of the most terrible dictators and destroyers on the African continent". "Robert Mugabe is coming to talk about food while his fellow citizens are dying in the streets because of lack of food and human rights," said Mr Agroni, who is a member of the Italian parliament's agriculture commission. |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #20 Amen. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-10-17 22:54 |
| #19 The UN has become a parody of itself. Unfortunately, it's NOT funny. A human rights commission composed of third world tyrants. A (Nobel Prize winning) nuclear watchdog with no teeth, a Food and Agriculture commission applauding a tyrant who created starvation, Peacekeepers who rape and murder locals, massive theft, incompetence and corruption. The UN is way past it's 'best used by' date and is stinking up the whole planet. Time to toss it in the trash. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2005-10-17 22:48 |
| #18 Won't work - even rats have standards. Of course the reason the FAO is honoring Mugabe is that he (and the other dictators) are responsible for keeping the FAO in business (and these UN fat-cats rolling in dough. By starving their people and stealing the food). I expect Kimmie-boy-the-baby-killer of North Korea to be honored next. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-10-17 18:25 |
| #17 I hear rats are going for $1.50 in ZimBobWe these days. Hey, anything tastes good when you're hungry enough. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2005-10-17 18:18 |
| #16 Someone please tell me what that elongated growth on his upper lip is? Is it a war wound fighting for his now oppressed Shona people's freedom or an out of control mole. In either case somebody send him a quarter so he can buy a rat to chew it off his face. |
| Posted by: Rightwing 2005-10-17 15:06 |
| #15 "PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe was last night branded "heartless" after he commandeered a London-bound Air Zimbabwe plane to the Italian capital Rome, sparking a four-hour wait for hundreds of passengers after the plane ran out fuel." In truth, Bad Bob's Flying saucer's dilithium crystals have been depleted. So his warp drive shut down for want of maintenance. Forgot about that 1,000,000 light year tune-up. Last one was after descending on the Mexican mountaintop to have a session with Calypso Louie Farrakhan. Bad Bob had to commandeer the airplane... |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-10-17 14:04 |
| #14 The plane could run out of gas while ferrying him home... |
| Posted by: 3dc 2005-10-17 12:53 |
| #13 Mr Mugabe, who is exempt from an EU travel ban when on UN business At least it is now clear that the UN's "business" includes fawning over genocidal dictators while turning a blind eye to their brutal misdeeds. Look, guys, this maggot is off of his turf. Isn't there some way to cap his worthless @ss? A two-legged sack of sh!t like Mugabe is a prime wetworks candidate. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2005-10-17 12:28 |
| #12 oooops. rong thred. |
| Posted by: muck4doo 2005-10-17 12:02 |
| #11 memooooreeees... 'Hitler' Mugabe launches revenge terror attacks By Peta Thornycroft in Harare (Filed: 26/03/2003) President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has compared himself to Adolf Hitler. At the state funeral of one of his cabinet ministers, Mr Mugabe said: "I am still the Hitler of the time. This Hitler has only one objective, justice for his own people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people, and their right to their resources. "If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold. Ten times, that is what we stand for." link |
| Posted by: muck4doo 2005-10-17 12:00 |
| #10 uncany aint it |
| Posted by: muck4doo 2005-10-17 11:27 |
| #9 Fuel shortages are a problem, especially when airborne. Veddy bad, veddy veddy bad. I also wonder how the maintenance program for the aircraft fleet is doing. I'm Sure Zim-Bob is throwing his millions into that one. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2005-10-17 11:27 |
| #8 due to a crippling fuel shortage and the company's terrible track record of failing to pay for refueling and landing fees at airports around the world Better hurry up and starve more people so that the free UN money will start to flow. |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-10-17 11:03 |
| #7 From the Freepers: "PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe was last night branded "heartless" after he commandeered a London-bound Air Zimbabwe plane to the Italian capital Rome, sparking a four-hour wait for hundreds of passengers after the plane ran out fuel. Air Zimbabwe has been forced to cancel several domestic, regional and international flights due to a crippling fuel shortage and the company's terrible track record of failing to pay for refueling and landing fees at airports around the world Furious passengers told New Zimbabwe.com how Mugabe and his group forced a deviation in the plane's route, a decision which led to a four-hour grounding of the plane after Air Zimbabwe failed to pay soon after a refueling had been done. "It seems Air Zimbabwe were afraid to tell Mugabe that the fuel would not complete the journey," said a passenger on the plane. "Frankly, I was pissed off that our journey was altered to suite Mugabe who dumped us when he got to his destination." Another passenger confirmed seeing refueling trucks approaching the plane. He described dramatic scenes of seeing the plane's captain angrily remonstrating with one of the men who did the refueling. "For long periods, we were just being told there was a problem. The nature of the problem was not revealed to us," said the passenger who cannot be named" http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/airzim15.13300.html |
| Posted by: Craiting Flotle5462 2005-10-17 10:50 |
| #6 So, when will the UN be leading an international coalition to attack the US? (Militarily, not the "soft power" way they've been for the last 60 years.) |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-10-17 09:20 |
| #5 Sounds like Bob is a little nervous. He shouldn't be. He hasn't figured out Zimb's got nothing we want that we can't get and he's no threat to us. So we'll let Zimb stew in its own juices and reduce the pressure of the population bomb. Sort of like Zimb gets to be Africa's Russia. |
| Posted by: Cheth Joluse7213 2005-10-17 09:19 |
| #4 Guess what? It's Bush's (and Blair's) fault. ROME (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe denounced U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair as "unholy men" on Monday, comparing them to fascist leaders trying to dominate the world. "Must we allow these men, the two unholy men of our millennium, who in the same way as Hitler and Mussolini formed (an) unholy alliance, formed an alliance to attack an innocent country?" Mugabe told the conference. "The voice of Mr Bush and the voice of Mr Blair can't decide who shall rule in Zimbabwe, who shall rule in Africa, who shall rule in Asia, who shall rule in Venezuela, who shall rule in Iran, who shall rule in Iraq," he said. Delegates attending the FAO conference applauded Mugabe at the end of his speech. But, of course... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2005-10-17 09:15 |
| #3 The US ambassador to the FAO, Tony Hall, said he was amazed the organisation had invited a leader "who has done so much to hurt his own people." If he is 'amazed' about the U.N. doing this I think we need a new Ambassador to the FAO - this one is too damn dumb. Anyone have a copy of the lunch menu at this gathering? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-10-17 09:03 |
| #2 What's the problem? The UN says its OK. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-10-17 08:57 |
| #1 Well, maybe his speech is about how not to grow enough food. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2005-10-17 08:51 |
