C
Captain Compassion
Guest
Zimbabwe to Head Key U.N. Commission
Saturday May 12, 2007 8:46 AM
By LILY HINDY
Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Zimbabwe, a country suffering from acute food
shortages and rampant inflation, won approval to lead the important
U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development despite protests from the
U.S., European nations and human rights organizations.
Africa nominated Francis Nhema, Zimbabwe's minister of environment and
tourism, for the post, and the 53-member commission approved that
recommendation Friday in a vote of 26-21 with three abstentions, said
Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado, the commission's vice chair.
The post rotates every year among regions of the world and it was
Africa's turn to sit in the chair.
``We're very disappointed in the election of Zimbabwe as chair,'' said
the U.S. representative to the commission Dan Reifsnyder, deputy
assistant secretary for environment and science at the State
Department.
``We really think it calls into question the credibility of this
organization to have a representative from a country that has
decimated its agriculture, that used to be the breadbasket of Africa
and can't now feed itself,'' Reifsnyder said.
Zimbabwe is suffering its worst economic crisis since independence in
1980, with acute shortages of food, hard currency, gasoline, medicines
and most other basic goods. Official inflation is running at about
2,200 percent annually, the highest in the world.
President Robert Mugabe, an 83-year-old who has ruled Zimbabwe since
it gained independence from Britain in 1980, has been widely
criticized for mismanaging the economy.
In 2000, Mugabe's government began violently seizing thousands of
white-owned commercial farms as part of a program to redistribute land
to poor blacks. The chaotic way the seizures were carried out
disrupted the agriculture-based economy in Zimbabwe, a former regional
breadbasket. Drought, government corruption and repressive policies
have compounded the problems.
The newly elected chairman dismissed questions Friday night about his
country's international standing and the appropriateness of Zimbabwe
holding such a position in a global body.
``I think it's not time to point fingers,'' Nhema said. ``There is
never a perfect method, it's always a method which is appropriate to
each country. So it's important not only to look at Zimbabwe but to
look at each other and see what we can learn.''
Several European nations have also called Zimbabwe's candidacy
inappropriate.
On Friday, the Pan African Parliament, a body of the African Union,
voted to send a mission to Zimbabwe to investigate alleged human
rights abuses ``relating to the arrests and detention, assault and
murder of political activists and members of the media.''
``Zimbabwe is hardly a model of good governance or sustainable
development or even responsible leadership,'' said Benjamin Chang,
deputy spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, said
before the vote. ``Our concern is that it's potential chairmanship
would undermine the commission's credibility.''
Jennifer Windsor, executive director of the human rights group Freedom
House, said before the vote that it was ``preposterous'' for Zimbabwe
to lead any U.N. body. Freedom House is independent non-governmental
organization that has monitored political rights and civil liberties
in Zimbabwe since 1980.
She said Mugabe's government ``clearly has nothing but scorn for the
U.N.'s founding principles of human rights, security and international
law.''
The Commission on Sustainable Development was established by the
General Assembly in December 1992 to ensure effective follow-up of the
Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in June that year, and
implementation of key environmental and development agreements.
The commission meets annually in New York, and its current session
that opened Wednesday is focusing on energy for sustainable
development, industrial development, air pollution and climate change.
--
There may come a time when the CO2 police will wander the earth telling
the poor and the dispossed how many dung chips they can put on their
cook fires. -- Captain Compassion.
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
"Civilization is the interval between Ice Ages." -- Will Durant.
"Progress is the increasing control of the environment by life.
--Will Durant
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
Saturday May 12, 2007 8:46 AM
By LILY HINDY
Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Zimbabwe, a country suffering from acute food
shortages and rampant inflation, won approval to lead the important
U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development despite protests from the
U.S., European nations and human rights organizations.
Africa nominated Francis Nhema, Zimbabwe's minister of environment and
tourism, for the post, and the 53-member commission approved that
recommendation Friday in a vote of 26-21 with three abstentions, said
Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado, the commission's vice chair.
The post rotates every year among regions of the world and it was
Africa's turn to sit in the chair.
``We're very disappointed in the election of Zimbabwe as chair,'' said
the U.S. representative to the commission Dan Reifsnyder, deputy
assistant secretary for environment and science at the State
Department.
``We really think it calls into question the credibility of this
organization to have a representative from a country that has
decimated its agriculture, that used to be the breadbasket of Africa
and can't now feed itself,'' Reifsnyder said.
Zimbabwe is suffering its worst economic crisis since independence in
1980, with acute shortages of food, hard currency, gasoline, medicines
and most other basic goods. Official inflation is running at about
2,200 percent annually, the highest in the world.
President Robert Mugabe, an 83-year-old who has ruled Zimbabwe since
it gained independence from Britain in 1980, has been widely
criticized for mismanaging the economy.
In 2000, Mugabe's government began violently seizing thousands of
white-owned commercial farms as part of a program to redistribute land
to poor blacks. The chaotic way the seizures were carried out
disrupted the agriculture-based economy in Zimbabwe, a former regional
breadbasket. Drought, government corruption and repressive policies
have compounded the problems.
The newly elected chairman dismissed questions Friday night about his
country's international standing and the appropriateness of Zimbabwe
holding such a position in a global body.
``I think it's not time to point fingers,'' Nhema said. ``There is
never a perfect method, it's always a method which is appropriate to
each country. So it's important not only to look at Zimbabwe but to
look at each other and see what we can learn.''
Several European nations have also called Zimbabwe's candidacy
inappropriate.
On Friday, the Pan African Parliament, a body of the African Union,
voted to send a mission to Zimbabwe to investigate alleged human
rights abuses ``relating to the arrests and detention, assault and
murder of political activists and members of the media.''
``Zimbabwe is hardly a model of good governance or sustainable
development or even responsible leadership,'' said Benjamin Chang,
deputy spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, said
before the vote. ``Our concern is that it's potential chairmanship
would undermine the commission's credibility.''
Jennifer Windsor, executive director of the human rights group Freedom
House, said before the vote that it was ``preposterous'' for Zimbabwe
to lead any U.N. body. Freedom House is independent non-governmental
organization that has monitored political rights and civil liberties
in Zimbabwe since 1980.
She said Mugabe's government ``clearly has nothing but scorn for the
U.N.'s founding principles of human rights, security and international
law.''
The Commission on Sustainable Development was established by the
General Assembly in December 1992 to ensure effective follow-up of the
Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in June that year, and
implementation of key environmental and development agreements.
The commission meets annually in New York, and its current session
that opened Wednesday is focusing on energy for sustainable
development, industrial development, air pollution and climate change.
--
There may come a time when the CO2 police will wander the earth telling
the poor and the dispossed how many dung chips they can put on their
cook fires. -- Captain Compassion.
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
"Civilization is the interval between Ice Ages." -- Will Durant.
"Progress is the increasing control of the environment by life.
--Will Durant
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
