Cablegate: Media Reaction Call for U. N. Reform; Harare

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS HARARE 001979

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS
AF FOR RAYNOR
IRAQ PD FOR SMITH, PINESS AND ROOKARD
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER
LONDON FOR GURNEY
PARIS FOR NEARY
NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL KPAO KMDR ZI
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION CALL FOR U. N. REFORM; HARARE

1. Under headline "The U. N. must reform or die" the
government-controlled weekly "The Sunday News" (circulation
50,000 - 60,000) dedicated its September 28 editorial to
call for the restructuring of the United Nations. The
editorial comes hard on the heels of Robert Mugabe's
broadside against Western powers at the 58th United Nations
General Assembly in New York. Excerpts follow:

2. ". . .The best way to guarantee peace and security in
the world today is to strengthen the United nations. The
credibility and legitimacy of the U. N. is undermined when
powerful countries disregard Security Council resolutions.
If countries of the world do not want future generations to
view history as a mere chronicle of the foolishness of
mankind, they must empower the U. N. with the clout to
censure and discipline warmongering leaders exemplified by
Mr. Bush and his cronies. . .After realizing that Iraq is
no picnic, the self-righteous U. S. leader, oblivious in
his own hypocrisy, has been forced to eat humble pie and is
now exhorting the rest of the world to help him assemble a
multilateral force in (an) Arab nation . But he must not
get away with murder. He must answer why he invaded a
sovereign country without U. N. approval, killing thousands
of Iraqis and needlessly endangering the lives of young
American soldiers. Mr. Bush must also answer why he is
compromising global peace and security by bullying Iran,
Cuba and North Korea using flimsy allegations that the
governments of these countries are violating human rights.
. .A humanistic, democratic and pluralistic world has
better chances of success than a Manichean one that
promotes imperialistic globalization and Western political
hegemony. The continued existence of mankind will, to a
great extent, be determined by consensus through diplomacy
and dialogue rather than military might. . .There is no
alternative; the U. N. must either reform or it will go the
way of the dinosaurs."

SULLIVAN

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