Zimbabwe Suspends International Aid

Crucial Food Deliveries Jeopardized; Opposition Leader Told To Stop Campaigning

(CBS/ AP)  Zimbabwe's government ordered aid groups to halt operations in a move that could hamper food deliveries in the impoverished nation where millions depend on outside help.

Aid groups in Zimbabwe were sent a memorandum from social welfare minister Nicholas Goche on Thursday ordering an indefinite suspension of field work. Zimbabwe has been accused of using food aid as a political weapon.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe's opposition presidential candidate has been allowed to leave a police station about two hours after he was ordered to drive there.

But Morgan Tsvangirai was told he could not resume campaigning Friday for the presidential runoff set for later this month.

Tsvangirai had been trying to campaign around Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second largest city. He was stopped at a roadblock and ordered to a police station about 30 miles from Bulawayo.

Later, he and reporters with him were allowed to leave the station. They drove back to Bulawayo under police escort.

Tsvangirai's campaign to unseat Robert Mugabe has been hobbled by violence and intimidation.

Tsvangirai's ordeal follows Thursday's incident when a mob believed loyal to President Robert Mugabe waylaid a convoy of American and British diplomats near the Zimbabwean capital, beating a local staffer, slashing tires and threatening to burn the envoys, the U.S. Embassy said.

The diplomats were looking into political violence before a presidential election runoff, and Thursday's incident was the latest sign of how tense Zimbabwe is as Mugabe prepares to face an opposition leader who led voting in the first round.

Opposition and human rights groups also accuse Mugabe of orchestrating violence to ensure he wins re-election amid growing unpopularity for his heavy-handed rule and the country's economic collapse. Police held the president's runoff rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, for nine hours Wednesday.

Officials in Washington and London said the diplomats were returning from a trip to investigate violence in northern Zimbabwe when they were stopped at a roadblock on the outskirts of Harare, the capital. The convoy was halted for some six hours before it was allowed to drive on.

U.S. Ambassador James McGee, who was not with the convoy, said police and military officers detained the diplomats in an "illegal action." He said they were assisted by a crowd of "war veterans," a group whose members purportedly fought in Zimbabwe's independence war and are Mugabe's fiercest and most violent supporters.

"The war veterans threatened to burn the vehicles with my people inside unless they got out of the vehicles and accompanied the police to a station nearby," McGee told CNN.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy, Paul Engelstad, told The Associated Press that some in the throng beat one of the embassy's Zimbabwean employees and slashed the tires of some cars in the convoy.

McGee said five Americans, four Britons and three Zimbabwean employees were traveling in three cars.

The U.S. government took complaints about the incident to the United Nations Security Council.

"It is absolutely outrageous, and it is a case of the kind of repression and violence that this government is willing to use against its own people," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said of Mugabe's regime.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the attack on British and American diplomats underlined the hardship of life under Mugabe's regime, which he said is "marked by brutal intimidation, by torture ... and by death."

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena denied security agents had threatened the diplomats. He said police at the scene intervened to rescue the diplomats from a threatening mob.

"It's unfortunate when diplomats behave like criminals and distort information," Bvudzijena said. "It is a very sad situation."

McGee said Zimbabwean officials had been informed about the trip as required.

Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga said that while the U.S. ambassador had submitted the necessary documents, Britain had not. Matonga also accused the diplomats of handing out election materials supporting the opposition.

Mugabe frequently accuses Britain and the U.S. of plotting to topple him and return Zimbabwe to colonial rule.

Mugabe has led Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980 and was once hailed as a liberator who promoted racial reconciliation and economic empowerment. But he has been accused of clinging to power through election fraud and intimidation, and of destroying his country's economy through the seizure of white-owned farms beginning in 2000.

Millions of Zimbabweans depend on international groups for food and other aid as the economy crumbles. Human Rights Watch on Wednesday accused the government of imposing control over food aid to intimidate voters before the runoff.

Welfare minister Goche said he had learned that aid groups were violating the terms of their agreement with the government. He did not elaborate in the brief statement seen by The Associated Press Thursday.

Goche said all aid and development groups were ordered to "suspend all field operations until further notice."

[bluestardad]

THANKS ENGLAND AND AMERICA FOR PUTTING THIS DICTATOR IN POWER!


THOUSANDS OF WHITE FARMERS ARE DEAD AND RHODIESA IS IN RUIN BECAUSE OF YOUR ACTIONS!

[gopsoccermom]

This is what happens when savages are left to run unchecked. Now lets sit back and watch them starve because they arent smart enough to grow their own food. This is what America will be like if Obama is elected.

[louiville2]

"Why foist this food upon us? We do not want to be choked, we have enough. "

Talking about efforts by international food agencies to get food to his starving population, in an interview with Sky TV.

%u2014 Robert Mugabe, May 2004

I guess when he said "We" he ment I have enough to eat. So keep it coming maybe he will choke.

[soldat44]

Time to terminate Mugabe with ''extreme predjudice''.

[chimpyout]

Emphatically agree with bluestardad and herr soldat.
Not surprising that this is just another african failed state (is there any other kind?). Process began with Haitian secession from civilization back in the early 1800s.

If it''s "whitey''s" fault, hasn''t Mr. Whitey been gone for a long time in most cases? How many decades do they need?

[T2_Squared]

"This is what happens when savages are left to run unchecked. Now lets sit back and watch them starve because they arent smart enough to grow their own food. This is what America will be like if Obama is elected. " - gopsoccermom

What kind of flawed and twisted mental processes must you have to even start to link the events going on in Zimbabwe with the future president of a country like the US.

[primilioneah]

Chances of Mr. Tsvangirai winning the presidency under the present conditions are closer to zero than they are to one. So he should start planning his next step through parliament where he has a majority of members allied to his party. Let him make sure they pass legislation which will favor his accession to power probably after Mugabe. Right now Mugabe is far ahead of everybody.

[louiville2]

Primilioneah; Nice idea but Mugabe is just getting started the next will be the destruction of parliament. Like arresting members for minor crimes during important votes etc%u2026

[bluestardad]

ANOTHER POLITICALLY CORRECT FAILED POLICY!

[hot4real]

The USA, UK, and the EU are pushing for a regime change so that their puppet can become president of Zimbabwe. They are using the so called international NGO as cover to push for regime change. Those NGO''s are using food as a weapon to coerce people into voting for Tsangirai who is a puppet of the above countries.

Their objective is to make sure "white" supremacy is preserved in zimbabwe. as an African i will tell the above countries to back off from Africa. We are tired of your madness.

[hot4real]

The meddling of the USA and EU into zimbabwe bussiness is for "white" domination. they want their kin and kith to keep all the land of zimbabwean they stole at the onset of the british evil and primitive crimes in zimbabwe. Africa will not accept evil meddling in Africa. economic problem in zimbabwe are the USA and UK machination to push for regime change.

the USA/UK are notorius for evil racist crimes against the African people world wide

[killmugabe]

who are the idiots who are saying that it is US/Europeans who are trying to take over Zimbabwe again. Are these people for real???? Cop-on. Zimbabwe is in crisis because a insane dictator and his thugs are distroying the country and killing the people. If another stolen election does not stop this madman then the US and Europe will need to step in and do the job.

[hot4real]

The USA/EU are the natural enemies of Africa and if they step in it will be a declaration of war. we made them surrender once, we will once more. if the USA and EU try this time we will deport all their pinks "whites" brothers and sisters back to europe. i mean we know you have commited so many genocide against africans and you will certainly try again. but we will defend ourselves.

[keithle1]

"How To Destroy A Country In 30 Years" by the Honorable Dictator Robert Mugabe.

[keithle1]

"Black unity" is a joke & you know it. What has Mugabe ever done for the people of Zimbabwe.

Blacks killing blacks. That''s Africa.

[csmith1948]

sounds like hot4real is a Mugabe puppet. Maybe he was given one of those prosperous farms that were confiscated and doesn''t want anyone to see how he ruined it.

[downsteamjim]

Looks like Mugabe has a lock on the Nobel Peace Prize and maybe a high level seat at the UN.

[my2centss]

Looks like Mugabe is just doing his part to stop global warming. No farms being worked. Eliminating people from taking natural resources.

[keithle1]

Who are these people who are defending Mugabe?