Britain, Zimbabwe in war of words

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, NOV. 24. Britain's relations with Mr. Robert Mugabe's Government in Zimbabwe touched a new low after the latter accused the British journalists in Harare of assisting ``terrorists'' and grossly ``misrepresenting'' facts. It threatened to treat them as terrorists, invoking the U.S. President, Mr. George W. Bush's definition that anyone who in any way defends terrorists is himself guilty of terrorism.

The accusation hurled at the Harare-based correspondents of The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and The Independent provoked a storm of protest here and the Foreign Office said it would be making a ``representation'' to the Zimbabwean Government.

A correspondent of the Associated Press and a British human rights activist were also lumped with them in what was described here as an attempt to ``intimidate'' the foreign media, claimed to be the only ``independent'' source information out of Zimbabwe.

The charge against foreign correspondents was made by an official spokesman, believed to be the Information Minister, Mr. Jonathan Moyo, in an article in the Government-run Herald newspaper.

``These reporters are not only distorting the facts but are assisting terrorists who stand accused in our courts of law of abduction, torture and murder by covering up and misrepresenting the brutal deeds of the terrorists,'' he wrote, referring to their reports on the Government crackdown on the Opposition-led Movement for Democratic Change.

Foreign correspondents reported extensively on what they described as attacks by the Government-supported war veterans on MCD activists.

The spokesman warned them that ``we agree with President Bush that anyone who in any way finances, harbours or defends terrorists is himself a terrorist.... We too will not make any difference between terrorists and their friends and supporters.''

The Guardian whose correspondent, Mr. Andrew Muldrum, is among those in the ``dock'', lashed out at the Zimbabwean Government, calling the spokesman's remarks as the ``most serious attempt to intimidate journalists in the run-up to next year's presidential election, when President Mugabe will face the toughest challenge of his career....''

The Daily Telegraph called the accusation ``absurd'' and defended its correspondent, Ms. Peta Thornycroft, as a ``wholly professional journalist''. There were equally angry reactions from The Independent and The Times.

A Foreign Office spokesman said if the Zimbabwean spokesman's statement was true, this was a ``very worrying comment for a Government spokesman to make...'' ``The eyes of the world are on Zimbabwe and the harassment of journalists will only damage its reputation further in the eyes of the international community,'' he said.

This is the latest in a series of developments in the tense relations between London and Harare which has accused Britain of backing ``terrorists'' in Zimbabwe.

The episode coincided with a tense meeting between a European Union delegation and Mr. Mugabe who bluntly rejected the E.U.'s move to send European observers to monitor next year's presidential elections. A senior member of the delegation said the E.U.'s relations with Zimbabwe were at a ``critical point''.

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Section  : International
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