Zimbabwe Curbs Many Aid Groups
Changes are coming to Zimbabwe, the New York Times reports. Sadly they aren’t the change most of us were hoping for. ‘Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Zimbabweans — orphans and old people, the sick and the down and out — have lost access to food and other basic humanitarian assistance as their government has clamped down on international aid groups it says are backing the political opposition, relief agencies say.’
One of the organizations that have been told to suspend all its operations is CARE. CARE is an organization which helps 500,000 of Zimbabwe’s most vulnerable citizens. ‘This month alone, CARE would have fed more than 110,000 people in schools, orphanages, old-age homes and in various programs.’
Now, however, these 110,000 mothers, children and elderly people will have to do without CARE’s help.
The country’s DictatorPresident, Robert Mugabe, said recently that nongovernmental organizations try to interfere in his country’s political affairs and he accused the West of trying to “cripple Zimbabwe’s economy” and bring about “illegal regime change.”
Sadly for Mugabe, the facts are slightly different. The West isn’t trying to do anything, Zimbabweans themselves are. They have lost confidence in Mugabe, which is why they have tried to replace him with the opposition leader during the last elections. Mugabe, being the selfish and narcissistic man he is, refused to step down, however, and is now taking revenge on the population.
He darn well knows that NGO’s aren’t doing anything against him; they are simply trying to help the population. No, he forces NGO’s to suspend all operations because he wants to punish the population, who were ungrateful enough to vote against him. Not only that, Mugabe also realizes that food can be used as a political tool. By making it impossible for NGO’s to hand out food, the government monopolizes it. This means that they can use it in an attempt to gain support among the population; if you can choose between your principles or food for yourself and your children, you choose the latter.
Give people food if they vote and fight against the opposition. It works every time.
