Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe criticised what he called unfair media reports aimed at muddying the image of developing countries, as Asian and African leaders held talks on Monday on fighting poverty.
Mugabe, whose country is grappling with a financial crisis that he blames partly on Western economic sanctions, used a dialogue session with media representatives at the Langkawi International Dialogue in Malaysia to slam news reports that are ”quite often deliberately intended to tarnish and mislead”.
”Should our journalists really indulge in what they know to be deliberately misleading stories, and therefore stories that go against objectivity and the truth?” Mugabe said, without singling out any news organisation.
Zimbabwe is confronting an economic meltdown that has spurred the International Monetary Fund to warn that the country’s inflation rate may hit 100 000% by the end of the year. The World Food Program appealed last week for funds to help more than 3,3-million Zimbabweans — over a quarter of the population — suffering severe food shortages.
Mugabe, a frequent critic of the West, is among about 500 government and corporate leaders from about 20 mostly developing countries attending an anti-poverty conference on Malaysia’s northern Langkawi Island.
In a speech late on Sunday to launch the three-day meeting, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi urged governments to give citizens more power in determining their economic destinies, saying ”people need to be able to feel that they are directly involved in charting the future of their own country.”
He noted that Malaysia — one of South-east Asia’s most industrialised economies — has reduced poverty by providing more opportunities for people through education and training, as well as by improving healthcare and housing services.
Low-income earners should ”have better access and make better use of various resources including land, labour, physical capital, infrastructure and technology, among others”, Abdullah said.
Abdullah’s audience included Swaziland’s King Mswati III, who has been facing a pro-democracy strike against his sweeping powers and economic policies, including plans to tax pensions. An estimated 70% of the population lives in poverty in Swaziland, a largely agricultural country regularly battered by drought and crop failure.
Other countries represented at the Langkawi conference include Sudan, Namibia, Zambia, Thailand, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Uganda, Botswana, Mozambique, Gambia, Laos, Malta, Cambodia and Tanzania.
‘Lessons to be learned’
Meanwhile Mugabe, condemned by critics for Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown and human rights abuses, was given a warm welcome on Monday at the summit, delegates said.
Although his presence has stirred some controversy, participants said he was embraced by some leaders and was playing an active part in round-table discussions.
The Zimbabwean leader is banned from travelling to some parts of the world, notably all 27 European Union states.
”Mugabe is actually participating in all the events,” a Malaysian delegate said, and had been ”hugged and kissed” by some participants at the three-day Langkawi International Dialogue.
The delegate, who did not want to be identified, added that ”other people had expressed unhappiness with Mugabe, but not at this conference”.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said participants should focus on sharing experiences rather than politics.
”I think you have to look at the positive side,” he told AFP. ”There are a lot of lessons to be learned.”
”We must not give in to political inputs to everything we do,” he went on, referring to criticism of Mugabe’s attendance.
Asked whether there had been a negative reaction to the Zimbabwean leader, he said: ”There is no problem. African leaders know each other well.”
The conference, launched in 1995, is aimed at fostering closer ties between South-east Asia and poor but resource-rich Africa.
It is taking place at a five-star beach resort, giving an incongruous sight of delegates talking poverty while bikini-clad Western tourists bathe nearby under the tropical sun.
Syed Hamid said the gathering was important and was meant to share success stories to African nations struggling to climb out of poverty.
”It is beneficial to us. It is not for show,” he said. — Sapa-AP, AFP