Zim ‘in better shape than many’

Zimbabwe is still in better shape than many African countries, President Robert Mugabe has said.

Mugabe was quoted on state television meeting Victor Angelo, the head of the United Nations Development Programme office in Zimbabwe.

Angelo bade farewell to Mugabe late on Thursday after four years in the troubled Southern African country, during which he coordinated one of the largest international humanitarian aid operations to Zimbabwe in a decade.

Zimbabwe experienced acute food shortages between 2001 and last year, blamed on drought and a controversial land reform exercise that drove away thousands of large-scale, white commercial farmers from their land.

“There are obviously things that we must do, economic problems that confront us, but when I look at our position vis-à-vis the position of other African countries which have not had sanctions or any problems at all, we are way ahead of them,” Mugabe said.

He commended Angelo, who has been accused by the state media of meddling in Zimbabwe’s politics, taking sides with white farmers and exaggarating the country’s humanitarian needs.

“Despite what some people are saying, after all has been said and done, we look at the totality of the work that has been done, it is quite positive,” Mugabe said.

The Sunday Mail claimed last month that Angelo had been recalled because the UN was unhappy at the way he had “tarnished” the image of the world body in Zimbabwe.

Angelo, who has been promoted to UN assistant secretary general in charge of peacekeeping in Sierra Leone, said his major achievement during the four years in Harare was to secure aid at a time Zimbabwe was blacklisted by major international donors.

“The major achievement is that we managed to mobilise quite a large amount of financial resources at a time when the resources were not coming in the direction of Zimbabwe … particularly the repsonse to the humanitarian situation,” Angelo was quoted as saying on state television. — Sapa-AFP