Ytown Tribe fan
01-28-2003, 04:30 PM
This item hit a little too close to home. Now, I'll be looking over my shoulder every time I put out a forecast.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/26/1043533953382.html
Mugabe hijacks weather, lest reign falls
By Philip Sherwell
January 27 2003
Robert Mugabe has clamped down on the opposition, driven white farmers off their land, bullied the media and banned foreign journalists. Now the Zimbabwean leader has turned his paranoiac attention to the weather.
The President's office took control of the forecasting service last week after learning that the drought-affected country is facing two more years of low rainfall.
Mr Mugabe feared the news that no early end to the drought was in sight would heighten discontent when nearly half the country's 13 million people are hungry. There were food riots in Harare and Bulawayo this month.
The Meteorological Office has been ordered not to reveal long-range forecasts before clearing them with senior presidential aides. They are expected to remove the most negative aspects before authorising their release.
"The Government does not want any information on the weather to be leaked," a Met Office official said. "All our forecasts are to be sent to the President's office and only then can they be released."
The development came as the World Food Program said the harvest of the staple food of maize would be poor for the next two years. "The Government and humanitarian agencies need to begin preparing for serious and widespread food insecurity for 2003-2004," it said in a report.
James Morris, a United Nations special envoy on southern Africa, on Saturday lamented the loss of the white farmers. "A highly productive part of the agricultural community is no longer engaged in agricultural production," he said during a visit to Harare.
Nearly all Zimbabwe's 4500 white commercial farmers have had their land seized.
Mr Mugabe has also ordered his feared Central Intelligence Organisation, the state security agency, to investigate reports that senior allies had approached the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in a plot to replace him.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/26/1043533953382.html
Mugabe hijacks weather, lest reign falls
By Philip Sherwell
January 27 2003
Robert Mugabe has clamped down on the opposition, driven white farmers off their land, bullied the media and banned foreign journalists. Now the Zimbabwean leader has turned his paranoiac attention to the weather.
The President's office took control of the forecasting service last week after learning that the drought-affected country is facing two more years of low rainfall.
Mr Mugabe feared the news that no early end to the drought was in sight would heighten discontent when nearly half the country's 13 million people are hungry. There were food riots in Harare and Bulawayo this month.
The Meteorological Office has been ordered not to reveal long-range forecasts before clearing them with senior presidential aides. They are expected to remove the most negative aspects before authorising their release.
"The Government does not want any information on the weather to be leaked," a Met Office official said. "All our forecasts are to be sent to the President's office and only then can they be released."
The development came as the World Food Program said the harvest of the staple food of maize would be poor for the next two years. "The Government and humanitarian agencies need to begin preparing for serious and widespread food insecurity for 2003-2004," it said in a report.
James Morris, a United Nations special envoy on southern Africa, on Saturday lamented the loss of the white farmers. "A highly productive part of the agricultural community is no longer engaged in agricultural production," he said during a visit to Harare.
Nearly all Zimbabwe's 4500 white commercial farmers have had their land seized.
Mr Mugabe has also ordered his feared Central Intelligence Organisation, the state security agency, to investigate reports that senior allies had approached the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in a plot to replace him.