October 18, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Thailand: Diplomacy: Hunger: Special Broadcasting Service: The top US representative to the UN food agency, Ambassador Tony Hall, said he was "amazed" that Mr Mugabe was invited to the meeting when his policies were contributing to the starvation of his own people
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October 18, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Thailand: Diplomacy: Hunger: Special Broadcasting Service: The top US representative to the UN food agency, Ambassador Tony Hall, said he was "amazed" that Mr Mugabe was invited to the meeting when his policies were contributing to the starvation of his own people
The top US representative to the UN food agency, Ambassador Tony Hall, said he was "amazed" that Mr Mugabe was invited to the meeting when his policies were contributing to the starvation of his own people
"When you invite him to speak, the real issue gets lost. This was to be a day for the hungry of the world. But he made a political speech and rained on the parade of the poor," Mr Hall told AFP. Former Congressman Tony Hall of Ohio, now ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand in the 1960's.
The top US representative to the UN food agency, Ambassador Tony Hall, said he was "amazed" that Mr Mugabe was invited to the meeting when his policies were contributing to the starvation of his own people
MUGABE CONDEMNS BUSH AND BLAIR
18.10.2005. 12:45:04
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has denounced US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair as "the two unholy men of our millennium" in a speech to the UN food agency in Rome.
Making a rare appearance on the international stage because of EU travel sanctions imposed for alleged vote-rigging, Mr Mugabe described the two leaders as "international terrorists" for launching a war in Iraq and for meddling in the domestic affairs of small countries like his own.
"The US and Britain have taken it upon themselves to decide for us in the developing world. Even to interfere in our domestic affairs, and want to bring about what they call regime change,” claimed Mr Mugabe who is under fire from both the US and Britain for persistent human rights abuses.
The 81-year-old Zimbabwean leader spoke at the end of an address to a conference marking the 60th anniversary of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.
US hits back
The top US representative to the UN food agency, Ambassador Tony Hall, said he was "amazed" that Mr Mugabe was invited to the meeting when his policies were contributing to the starvation of his own people.
He expressed disappointment that Mr Mugabe, "who has chewed up his own people and spat them out," had made a political speech which detracted from the main issues of the conference.
"When you invite him to speak, the real issue gets lost. This was to be a day for the hungry of the world. But he made a political speech and rained on the parade of the poor," Mr Hall told AFP.
The EU imposed a travel ban on the veteran Zimbabwean president and 100 officials of his government for alleged vote-rigging in a disputed 2002 presidential poll, but Mr Mugabe is exempted when travelling on UN business.
Mr Mugabe was the last of nine heads of state to address the conference, attended by delegates from 188 member-states.
Other speakers included Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
An impassioned Lula told the meeting that hunger is the world's "best weapon of mass destruction" that killed millions of people every year.
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Story Source: Special Broadcasting Service
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Thailand; Diplomacy; Hunger
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