IV
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. CON. RES. 453
Expressing the sense of Congress relating to the increasingly dire food secu-
rity 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 nutri-
tional 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 re-
quire 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
•HCON 453 IH
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 agri-
cultural sector, but is now for the first time in its post-
colonial history undergoing food shortages not caused pri-
marily by natural factors, but rather by failed and de-
structive policies of Mr. Mugabe;
Whereas unemployment in Zimbabwe is now more than 70
percent, with farm and industrial workers particularly af-
fected;
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 il-
legal 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;
•HCON 453 IH
Whereas World Food Program officials have stated that ‘‘a
crisis looms large over Zimbabwe’s horizon, and will seri-
ously affect many more than the 6,100,000 most vulner-
able 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 organi-
zations;
Whereas the people of the United States value peace and sta-
bility in the global community and in particular the eco-
nomic prosperity and livelihoods of the people of the na-
tions 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
•HCON 453 IH
intimidation led by Mr. Robert Mugabe and his fol-
lowers 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 in-
digenous and international nongovernmental commu-
nity, including the United Nations, to assist
Zimbabwean people in need;
(5) Mr. Mugabe and his followers should imme-
diately 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 responsi-
bility for the suffering and death by famine of many
tens of thousands of Zimbabweans.
Æ