OG Note--I don't very often post info on Zimbabwe because I know enough to see what's down the road--I have no problem with long-term memory and well remember the atrocities committed by the Mau-Mau, Kikuyu and also Idi Amin's goons in the Congo, all of which make the Hutus and Tutsis look like choirboys. Zimbabwe is headed for the same atrocities and nobody seems to want to do anything about it. Canada, not to mention other countries providing aid, should have shut the checkbook a long time ago. Friday, 11 May, 2001, 19:38 GMT 20:38 UK

Canada suspends aid to Zimbabwe

Canadian officials were involved in a scuffle in Harare

By Ian Gunn in Vancouver

Canada has suspended new development aid to Zimbabwe in protest over the deteriorating political situation in that country.

Foreign Minister John Manley says his country is particularly upset about a recent incident in which a senior Canadian aid official and the country's high commissioner were involved in a scuffle with militants in Zimbabwe.

Ottawa protested that incident but now Mr Manley says there was no relevant response from Harare and so Canada is immediately suspending new aid development in Zimbabwe.

"We regret that the lack of rule of law, which has long affected the people of Zimbabwe, is now having a direct impact on Canadian citizens. This means we must re-examine our aid relations with Zimbabwe," Mr Manley said in a statement.

Credit from the Canadian Export Development Corporation has been halted and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has also suspended a mining development deal and will not begin any new programmes in the country.

Canada is also barring soldiers from Zimbabwe from the peace-keeping training it offers.

With these moves the Canadian Government is saying it is very concerned about what is happening in Zimbabwe.

Junior Foreign Minister David Kilgour says withdrawing aid is a painful thing for Canada to do.

But the breakdown of the rule of law in the country, he says, has spawned a situation that Canadians simply cannot accept.

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2001

Answers

...is particularly upset about a recent incident in which a senior Canadian aid official and the country's high commissioner were involved in a scuffle with militants in Zimbabwe.

But, if this hadn't happened, then everything would be as before.

Logical.

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2001

But when you read the Israel article posted earlier, where the guy predicts what's going to happen, it makes perfect sense.

-- Anonymous, May 12, 2001