Zimbabwe And Its Impact On Regional Stability (speech)

Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen. Consider this, at this very moment while we are perusing over the affairs of the world relaxing in our relative comforts, over in Zimbabwe people are being paid 1.8million Zimbabwean dollars a day (month) working as a cleaner which is equivalent to 30 cents US. At such meager and miserable pay, ordinary Zimbabweans can no way sustain their livelihood and their families. Therefore, it is no wonder that more than 50,000 people are fleeing across the country’s border each month. By now, more than a quarter of the nation’s population has already fled the country. To top this crisis, Zimbabwe is facing the worst inflation ever recorded in its history. The rate of inflation has risen from an annual rate of 32% in 1998 to an official estimated high of 100,580.2% this January. This economic downfall, healthcare inefficiency and lack of security can only be attributed to the current regime and misrule of president, Mr Robert Mugabe. Various sanctions have been passed over the years but Mr. Mugabe’s government has remained ever defiant. Therefore, we are proposing three measures to counter this through our resolution. Firstly, that more pressure be put on President Mugabe’s government so that he is compelled to take steps to prevent the current untenable situation in Zimbabwe from worsening, curb corruption and intimidation of opposition Secondly, we would strongly advocate that all international aid given to Zimbabwe be channeled directly to the civilians through NGOs instead of letting it pass through the hands of the government. This would ensure that the citizens are directly benefiting from the aid and the funds are not used to prop Mr. Mugabe’s regime. Thirdly, we urge the donor organizations to also contribute to developing long term solutions instead, which would be more costeffective and ultimately helping the ordinary Zimbabweans more than temporary aid. We also like to recommend that EU ban on arms sales, travel and assets freeze on 131 leading members of the regime remain in place and that these sanctions be adopted and imposed by other member

nations to further increase the pressure on Mugabe regime and its supporters. We, therefore, hope that you will make support our resolution regarding the Zimbabwe Crisis. Thank you very much.