(TALKZIMBABWE) West, US not to blame for Zimbabwe's woes: Obama

West, US not to blame for Zimbabwe's woes: Obama
Samantha Chidzero
Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:43:00 +0000

UNITED STATES President Barack Obama says that the West and the United States are not to blame for what has happened in Zimbabwe for the last 15-20 years.

Speaking ahead of a visit to Ghana at the weekend, Obama said: "The West and the United States has not been responsible for what's happened to Zimbabwe's economy over the last 15 or 20 years."

He added, "Ultimately, I'm a big believer that Africans are responsible for Africa."

Obama also added that he was as knowledgeable about Africa as any other US President and believes that "Africans are responsible for Africa".

"I think part of what's hampered advancement in Africa is that for many years we've made excuses about corruption or poor governance, that this was somehow the consequence of neo-colonialism, or the West has been oppressive, or racism – I'm not a big – I'm not a believer in excuses."

President Mugabe blames Britain for the current economic woes in Zimbabwe. He has cited illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe as the reason for the downturn in the economy.

In 2001 the US introduced economic sanctions on Zimbabwe through the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, (ZDERA).

Through this enactment Zimbabwe’s access to finance and credit facilities was effectively incinerated.

ZDERA empowers the US to use its voting rights and influence (as the main donor) in multilateral lending agencies, such as the IMF, World Bank, and the African Development Bank to veto any applications by Zimbabwe for finance, credit facilities, loan rescheduling, and international debt cancellation.

ZDERA also bars US companies from trading with Zimbabwean entities.

A Zimbabwe Government official who was asked to respond to President Obama's statement said: "I did not expect the US President to rewrite the history of Zimbabwe.

"He knows very well that in the last 10 years, Britain has reneged on its Lancaster House obligations with regards Zimbabwe and imposed illegal sanctions on the country.

"Those measures have crippled this country. The 'breadbasket of Southern Africa' status acquired by Zimbabwe was a consequence of Zimbabwe's new black government, not Ian Smith's. What then happened?

Our source added: "Such ignorance about what really transpired between Zimbabwe and Britain is unbelievable."

The source also blamed president Obama for not appreciating the land struggles that Zimbabweans went through and the years of second class citizenhip faced by the landless and economically sidelined black Zimbabweans.

"Obama does not realise that majority rule brought 'one man one vote' that allowed black people to vote. Ian Smith did not bring democracy to Zimbabwe, we did. Why should these people then lecture us on this concept?"

The source added: "(President) Obama has effectively not altered anything in US relations with the world, effectively recycling and working with those individuals who effectively caused problems between Zimbabwe and the West."

President Obama renewed the disastrous ZDERA legislation for another year when he came into power.

President Mugabe recently met with US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson whom he described as "an idiotic little fellow" for trying to lecture Zimbabwe on how to conduct affairs of State.

He met him on Thursday on the sidelines of the 13th Ordinary Session of the African Union General Assembly in Sirte, Libya on Thursday.