[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6568-6569]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                ZIMBABWE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Royce) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ROYCE. Mr. Speaker, there is an issue of critical concern to the 
human rights movement around the world and a critical concern to the 
continent of Africa. And it is because tonight, I just want to report, 
that the country of Zimbabwe is in very, very grim and dire shape. 
President Robert Mugabe has plundered his country, driving it to ruin. 
And you know a little bit about the violence that you have seen on 
television over the last 72 hours. A once prosperous economy has been 
devastated by misrule; inflation is running at 200,000 percent per 
year, and life expectancy there has been driven down to a mere 34 
years.
  This was once a major agricultural exporter to the rest of Africa, 
but many Zimbabweans are now facing starvation because Mugabe has 
kicked productive farmers off his land. His regime has used food as a 
weapon; he rewards backers; he starves and punishes opponents. As Karl 
Marx said: Those who will not obey will not eat.
  Today, after 28 years of misrule, Mugabe is trying to steal the 
election, cracking heads to extend his reign. Defeated at the ballot 
box, the regime has simply refused to release official election 
results. And, instead, what has it done? It has stepped up its violence 
against the people across the countryside. It has arrested and killed 
its political opponents. 3,000 families have been forced from their 
homes. The torture chambers are full. Human rights groups report on 
those dead and those tortured to death. Ominously, the regime has 
charged the opposition presidential candidate with treason, and we know 
what that means, a charge that could signal the beginning of massive 
violence against the majority that supported the movement for 
democratic change.
  We should remember that this is the same Robert Mugabe that 
engineered a massacre in Southern Zimbabwe in Matabeleland in the early 
1980s, and he used North Korean troops, North Korean trained troops. 
Those in the countryside can show you the wells, as they showed us, 
where those North Korean troops of the fifth brigade directed the local 
villagers be thrown down alive down those wells and be killed. And that 
spate of killing took thousands and thousands of lives across the 
country. So, this is an autocrat who has stopped at nothing. And he has 
allies.
  As we speak, a Chinese freighter is adrift somewhere off the western 
coast of Africa looking for a friendly port to unload a shipment 
destined for Zimbabwe. And in the hull of that ship is 3 million rounds 
of AK-47 ammo, 1,500 rounds of 40 millimeter rockets, 2,703 rounds of 
60 millimeter mortar bombs. This cargo could quickly turn Zimbabwe into 
a killing field.
  China has played a similar role elsewhere, fueling other African 
violence, showing contempt for African lives. It provided the machetes 
to the Hutu militia to carry out its 1994 genocide. Beijing is arming 
the government in Sudan, which is committing genocide in Darfur with 
those weapons. It does this for political influence and Beijing does it 
for economic gain, especially oil and mineral wealth. China is 
currently Zimbabwe's largest investor and second largest trading 
partner, where it secures much needed natural resources for China. But 
it is also its armory.
  But the thing I have to reported tonight is that China is running 
into roadblocks, because last week South African port and truck workers 
refused to move this 70-ton weapons shipment to Zimbabwe. They were 
made aware of it by an investigative journalist. Their strike was 
backed by the South African union movement which said: South Africa 
cannot be seen to be facilitating the flow of weapons into Zimbabwe at 
a time when there is a political dispute and a volatile situation.
  The spokesman was being diplomatic. South African labor has been one 
of the few to pointedly and vocally criticize Mugabe's tyranny. They 
despise the tyrant to their north and they called for an international 
boycott of this ship. And this is an inspiring event.
  In the early 1970s, a labor leader at a Polish port stood up as well. 
Lech Walesa faced off against Soviet tyranny, demanding democracy and 
freedom for his native Poland.
  This week, South African port workers said they weren't going to play 
any role in Mugabe's next slaughter. Their action hasn't brought down a 
tyranny, but it may have been the beginning of one's fall. For years, 
Mr. Speaker, neighboring countries have set back applauding Mugabe 
despite the many Zimbabweans he has beaten and killed. The South 
African government has been an offender in this. It has even given 
Mugabe means of cover. President Thabo Mbeki recently called the 
election normal, and denied the crisis in Zimbabwe. His government 
would have allowed the Chinese armed shipment to transit South Africa, 
but China decided to avoid the hassle at South African ports. This 
diplomatic support from South Africa and others has bolstered Mugabe at 
home. But, in the meantime, the neighbors have taken their lead. Their 
opposition has snowballed: Mozambique has said no. Namibia has said no. 
We hope tomorrow Angola says no, and sends this ship laden with its 
weapons back to China.

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