Statement of Senator Barack Obama on the Crisis in Zimbabwe
Friday, June 13, 2008
Printable FormatFor Immediate Release
Contact: Michael Ortiz
I remain deeply concerned about the crisis in Zimbabwe, where the government of Robert Mugabe last week banned the operations of humanitarian agencies working across the country. The regime's latest attempt to hold on to power at any cost has already accelerated the suffering of millions of Zimbabwe's citizens. Food and other assistance from international agencies including UNICEF, CARE, and Oxfam are critical to the survival of millions of Zimbabweans who cannot afford basic foodstuffs due to skyrocketing inflation and the government's disastrous economic mismanagement.
The United Nations estimates that two million people now face starvation in a country that was once a breadbasket serving all of southern Africa. In this man-made humanitarian crisis, the most vulnerable citizens-children and AIDS patients-have been hit the hardest.
Robert Mugabe's government has frequently used food as a political weapon and required citizens to prove their membership in his ZANU-PF party in order to receive aid. The government is at it once again, denying food donated to Zimbabwe's citizens by the international community, including the United States, to punish the Zimbabwean people for voting peacefully for change. This egregious abuse is part of a broader campaign of intimidation and repression designed to manipulate the results of the June 27 presidential run-off elections. Members of the opposition, civil society activists, independent journalists and foreign diplomats have all been targets of harassment and brutality in recent weeks. This week's arrest and detention of senior MDC leaders is the most recent example of the government's determination to hang on to power at any cost.
Governing means acting in the best interests of a nation and its people. Robert Mugabe has abandoned this fundamental responsibility, and continues to jeopardize the future of Zimbabwe's children while undermining the economic progress that has been achieved in southern Africa. I am pleased that African leaders, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Kofi Annan, former heads of states, business leaders and some of the continent's best and brightest artists and activists have called for an end to the violence and the ban on humanitarian aid operations.
Urgent action is required to prevent a further deterioration of this tragic situation. The United Nations, the African Union and the Southern African Development Community cannot afford to be spectators to this tragedy. Along with the United States and Africa's other partners, they must speak out against repression in Zimbabwe. They should also swiftly deploy observers for the June 27th run-off and demand that the Government of Zimbabwe immediately lift the ban on NGO operations before millions more suffer as victims of this crisis.