[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 453 Introduced in House (IH)]
107th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. CON. RES. 453
Expressing the sense of Congress relating to the increasingly dire food
security situation in Zimbabwe and the failure of the Mugabe regime to
take appropriate measures to mitigate the impact of its failed policies
on the nutritional well-being of the people of Zimbabwe and of other
countries in the Southern Africa region.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 26, 2002
Mr. Hyde (for himself and Mr. Royce) submitted the following concurrent
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International
Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of Congress relating to the increasingly dire food
security situation in Zimbabwe and the failure of the Mugabe regime to
take appropriate measures to mitigate the impact of its failed policies
on the nutritional well-being of the people of Zimbabwe and of other
countries in the Southern Africa region.
Whereas the United Nations expects that starting in June 2002 more than
5,000,000 people in Zimbabwe will require food aid to survive, and that
by December 2002, that figure will increase to 6,100,000 people;
Whereas cereal production in Zimbabwe in 2002 is down 57 percent from the level
of such production in 2001 and is down 67 percent from the level of such
production in 1999-2000;
Whereas maize production in Zimbabwe in 2002 is down 67 percent from the level
of such production in 2001 and down 77 percent from the level of such
production in 1999-2000;
Whereas Mr. Robert Mugabe maintained the powers of the Zimbabwean presidency
after a March 2002 election, the legitimacy of which is widely rejected,
including by the United States;
Whereas Zimbabwe historically was a major food producer for Southern Africa,
feeding itself and helping its neighbors through the work of its
industrious and productive agricultural sector, but is now for the first
time in its post-colonial history undergoing food shortages not caused
primarily by natural factors, but rather by failed and destructive
policies of Mr. Mugabe;
Whereas unemployment in Zimbabwe is now more than 70 percent, with farm and
industrial workers particularly affected;
Whereas agricultural production is decreasing precipitously in Zimbabwe due to
the actions of the Mugabe regime and also through economic collapse and
lack of security due to Mugabe-supported mob violence, including
increased illegal confiscation and occupation of farms;
Whereas in 1997 Zimbabwe had an annualized inflation rate of 18.3 percent, but
following the implementation of failed and self-destructive economic
policies of the Mugabe regime, Zimbabwe now suffers from 114 percent
inflation;
Whereas World Food Program officials have stated that ``a crisis looms large
over Zimbabwe's horizon, and will seriously affect many more than the
6,100,000 most vulnerable people'', and the crisis ``will turn into a
grave crisis in the next few months with tragic consequences unless
rapid and adequate response is made'';
Whereas the people most affected by this looming crisis in Zimbabwe are the poor
and vulnerable--those individuals living in areas with chronic food
deficits, the urban poor who are entirely dependent on markets that have
failed to provide even barely adequate supplies of commodities, and the
displaced commercial farm workers and their families who have been the
victims of violence;
Whereas the United States has and will continue to furnish emergency food
assistance to the people of Zimbabwe through the United Nations and
nongovernmental organizations;
Whereas the people of the United States value peace and stability in the global
community and in particular the economic prosperity and livelihoods of
the people of the nations of Africa; and
Whereas the people and Government of the United States have long promoted the
adherence to basic human rights for all, the adoption of sound economic
policies, and the respect for political and press freedom, and urge
other peoples and governments to do so as well: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That it is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the land confiscation campaign and the state-sponsored
campaign of violence, torture, and intimidation led by Mr.
Robert Mugabe and his followers is a calculated and depraved
attempt to cling to power at the expense of the Zimbabwean
people;
(2) the economic and nutritional status of the Zimbabwean
people will only be harmed further by the continued pursuit of
failed policies by Mr. Mugabe and his followers;
(3) Mr. Mugabe should immediately cease the state monopoly
on grain imports and allow market forces to deliver food to
areas of Zimbabwe in need;
(4) in this time of self-imposed crisis, Mr. Mugabe should
allow the unfettered access of the indigenous and international
nongovernmental community, including the United Nations, to
assist Zimbabwean people in need;
(5) Mr. Mugabe and his followers should immediately cease
the withholding of food deliveries from certain regions of
Zimbabwe, thus ending the use of food as a weapon against his
own people; and
(6) absent any corrective action on his part, Mr. Mugabe's
legacy will be defined by his responsibility for the suffering
and death by famine of many tens of thousands of Zimbabweans.
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