| And guess who picks up the tab? |
 HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - A U.N. envoy went to Zimbabwe for talks with President Robert Mugabe on Thursday amid signs the economically distressed African nation was dropping its opposition to food aid as long as it came without any political conditions attached. The state-owned Herald newspaper reported Wednesday that Mugabe had told U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan the country would accept food assistance if it is not linked to political demands.
There were new indications of Zimbabwe's economic hardship Thursday. The central bank announced a 45 percent devaluation of the Zimbabwean dollar, a ban on luxury imports, and heavy subsidies for agriculture and exporters to try to end an economic crisis that has seen mass arrests of black-market traders, long lines for gasoline and stampedes for scarce foods.
| Subsidies? Time to print some new bank notes with '000' added to the current denominations. |
With an estimated 5 million Zimbabweans now admittedly in urgent need of food aid, Mugabe has agreed to meet World Food Program chief James Morris, who is due to visit the country next week, Mugabe's press secretary, George Charamba, was quoted as telling the Herald. "The Zimbabwean government is clear that the primary responsibility of ensuring that Zimbabweans are provided with food is its own," Charamba said.
| "Which we haven't done so well at so far," he meant to add but didn't. |
Charamba said the president and Annan had been talking since Zimbabwean officials backtracked on assertions the country would reap a bumper harvest of 2.75 million tons of maize. Before March 31 parliamentary elections, Mugabe insisted the country had a "bumper harvest" of maize and would be self-sufficient in food. The ruling Zanu-PF party won the poll with a huge majority.
But shortly after the poll, the government said it would have to quickly import 1.2 million tons of maize or else as many as 5 million Zimbabweans would face starvation.
U.N. envoy Joaquim Chissano went to Zimbabwe on Thursday for talks with Mugabe as the country's economic crisis deepened. Chissano, the former president of Mozambique, was to discuss proposed U.N. reforms with Mugabe, according to Zimbabwe state radio. The meeting was also expected to touch on growing food shortages in Zimbabwe, which used to be the breadbasket of southern Africa.
There were fresh signs the country's economic crisis was worsening. Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono on Thursday increased the official exchange rate for the U.S. dollar from 6,200 Zimbabwe dollars to 9,000 and said he plans to raise interest rates from 30 percent to 170 percent. Loans as low as 5 percent would be extended to exporters and farmers, and bonus payments would be made to tobacco and cotton growers and milk and meat producers, Gono said. He also predicted that inflation would reach 80 percent this year because of the need to import food.
| He was then taken out and 're-educated'. |
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