/ 1 April 1999

US DENIES AID FREEZE

THE US government has denied freezing all aid to Zimbabwe as reported in the Financial Gazette on Thursday. The paper claimed the country’s rights record caused a freeze in all aid. The United States embassy in Harare has denied the report. The embassy said if any decision to suspend US aid to Zimbabwe had been reached, it would have been communicated through the correct diplomatic channels. ”The United States Embassy firmly denies reports in a Harare newspaper…stating that the US government has frozen aid to Zimbabwe,” a statement from the US information service said Thursday. The Gazette reported that a US Agency for International Development (USAID) official in Washington said all outstanding aid to Zimbabwe has been suspended, while new support would have to be approved by the US congress.