Denmark cuts aid

Denmark has cut its aid to Zimbabwe in protest over violations of the rule of law, news reports said. “We are very disappointed that the government of Harare has not followed the decision of Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court to end the illegal occupation of farms and land,” Cooperation Minister Jan Troejborg said on Monday at a press conference in Copenhagen with UNDP Director, Mark Malloch Brown. “That is why we have decided to end cooperation with the agricultural ministry.”

The extent of the reduction is unclear, but Denmark had previously cut its US $18.8 million dollar annual aid budget to Zimbabwe almost in half. Copenhagen said it also took action over a lack of progress towards democracy and Harare’s financial backing for the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). “We hope the message will also serve as a platform for the opposition, reformist forces in government and civil society so that it becomes clear to President Robert Mugabe that these policies are expensive,” Troejborg said.

UNDP’s Mark Malloch Brown said he would be taking a message to Mugabe from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan next week. “Our number one priority is the population. The agriculture reform process has been an enormous burden for people, it has upset production and created heavy export losses and economic chaos,” he said. “No donor country wants to see this country, which was once stable and had relative freedom, degenerate in this manner. It is terrible, both for Zimbabwe and the region.”