HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK ---------------------------Japan Cuts All Aid To Zimbabwe
3-15-2
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan said on Friday that its economic aid to Zimbabwe, on hold since 1999, would stay frozen after Japanese election monitors had determined that President Robert Mugabe was returned to office in an unfair poll. "Because of the problem of the election, there are no prospects at all that Japan will resume its economic assistance to Zimbabwe," a foreign ministry official told Reuters. The ministry said in a statement that the government endorsed the judgment of Japan's election monitors that the Zimbabwe presidential election had not been conducted fairly. "Japan will continue to observe the domestic situation in Zimbabwe and consider what actions to take upon coordination with the international community," the statement said. Japan had extended economic, technical and humanitarian aid totaling about $30 million to Zimbabwe each year until 1998. But it has offered only a small amount humanitarian aid since then because of the unsettled political situation, including the illegal seizure of white-owned farms, the official said. Mugabe, in power since 1980, was declared re-elected for a six-year term on Wednesday with 56% of votes cast. A Commonwealth observer group issued a damning preliminary report on the poll, saying conditions did not adequately allow for a free expression of will by voters. The verdict was a blow to the 78-year-old Mugabe, whose re-election has been condemned by the West as massively rigged, but the outcome was defended by other observer groups from South Africa, Namibia and Nigeria, who said the vote was legitimate. Aid groups say more than half a million Zimbabweans are in desperate need of food and that four million of its 13 million people are at risk of going hungry soon. Economic analysts say Mugabe's victory would further debilitate the economy as donors shun what is widely seen in the West as an illegitimate government.
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