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President Robert
Mugabe of Zimbabwe has completed land reforms |
Of
SAINTS In her 1997 letter to the Zimbabwean government, former UK International Development Secretary Clare Short served notice that the United Kingdom was unable to offer financial support for distribution of land in Zimbabwe. James Norris argues that the end of the Iraqi war, a new UK Development Secretary, and Tony Blair and George Bush's Christian conviction provide a good opportunity for New Labour to give diplomacy one last chance. |
| America's war on terror including the doctrine of pre-emptive strike and the desire to remove the regime controlled by Saddam Hussein were the underlying cause of the Iraqi war. A split in the Atlantic alliance had never been witnessed before and people were captivated by the maneuvrings at the UN as much as they were with the war. Mayor Ken Livingstone of London was reported to have labeled President George Bush's Administration to be among the most corrupt in the history of America. This however is still to be proven. The Government of Kenya on the other hand labeled as extreme the decision last May by the UK government to suspend all British flights to their country; also the warnings to British citizens to avoid the country and surrounding nations due to intelligence about increased activities of terrorists. This was interpreted as a clear signal that the UK's romance with Nepad is not as strong as it was before the war |
when Blair remarked that: "Africa would become a scar on the conscience of the world". The UK's action could be interpreted as an indication that it lacks confidence in Africa and its capabilities to deal with threats of terror, choosing instead to deliver a lethal blow to African economies and their nascent tourist industries. The US$ 15 billion fund allocated by the Bush Administration to
fight AIDS in poor nations and Africa was only a start. Only a third
of the fund will actually go into AIDS relief, the rest fixed to
bilateral trade agreements. The other targets of the Millennium
Goals including debt relief to HIPC and Middle Income African nations
appeared to have disappeared from the consciousness of G8 nations. The Iraqi war unfolded behind the cover of the UN that was left isolated in a vacuum of uncertainty over its future role. The leaders of the war |
efforts against Iraq had a responsibility to the people of that
nation and to the rest of the world - who were mostly against the
invasion - to be honest, legal and beyond reproach in all their
dealings and military endeavors. But instead we witnessed what appeared
to be deception and a lack of preparation to deal with the aftermath
of the war efforts. Echoes of the same sentiments were manifested in a letter from Clare Short, the former UK Minister of Development letter to the Zimbabwe Administration in November 1997. In it she claimed that her government was not responsible for the sins of its ancestors, neither was it tied to policies of the previous UK administration. The threat followed that investors would withdraw their support if the African government acted in a way that displeased Britain and its interests in Zimbabwe. It would only be a matter of |
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