Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-07-04-Speech-4-163"
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"en.20020704.8.4-163"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, whilst there are perceptible signs of hope in Angola, it has to be said that the situation in Zimbabwe is being made ever more desperate by that country's obstinate President, who is incapable of letting go of the reins of power even at the cost of his country's wholesale destruction, and is thereby reducing his people to a wretched state. I want now to quote a figure supplied today by the aid agencies, one that is especially appalling, even though it is only a snapshot. Of Zimbabwe's adult population, 33% are infected with the HIV virus. From day to day, between 2 000 and 5 000 people die of this scourge; there are already 900 000 orphans in Zimbabwe, and that too is a consequence of the unspeakable policies of Mugabe and the ZANU-PF. No longer is there either prevention or treatment. Poverty makes these people's misery even worse. In this country, which once possessed a system of medical provision that was an example to Africa, there are scarcely any medical facilities left, and what provision exists is far from covering the whole country. The reason for this is that the country's doctors and nurses have fled, the hospital system has collapsed and there are no more medicines.
These things are all consequences of a policy under which those with any hope for the future leave the country, and only the poor are left. The hunger there – the hunger that is spreading throughout southern Africa – is only partly a result of the drought and natural calamities that afflict such regions from time to time, but is man-made and used as a weapon.
There is a need here for Europe to exert really massive pressure in the hope that sanity will yet prevail. Any such pressure, though, in fact needs also to be applied to those who now openly declare to NEPAD that they are committed to promoting good governance, the defence of human rights and democratic values. If they seriously mean that, then they can demonstrate their credibility by speaking frankly to their neighbour Mugabe, withdrawing political support from him and making it clear to him that he is isolated on a continent that is finding its way out of wretched poverty while respecting human dignity."@en1
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