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Government has dismissed the US-Africa Summit slated for Washington in August as a non-event to Zimbabwe as the country prides its ownership of its resources more than trips to Washington, a cabinet minister has said.Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo said, if anything, the United States had taught Zimbabwe not to respect it through the punitive and unjustified sanctions it imposed in 2001.
Prof Moyo said this while addressing students doing Joint Command and Staff Course Number 27 in Harare yesterday. This was in response to reports that US president Barrack Obama had not included President Mugabe on the list of African leaders invited to the summit.
“It is a non issue to us,” he said, adding: “We understand this to be America pursuing its interests, afraid that China has made headway.”
He went on to say, “The countries that have a serious relationship … with China are not part of it and we do not mind because what matters most to us is the sovereignty over our resources and not a trip to Washington, especially to be paraded in Washington to say ‘haa look at them all, it is only me and I have invited these 47 people’.
“That is old politics, old economy because the bottom line is resources. They can have that summit, what we know is America, the business community wants to come and do business with us over these resources under our soil.”
He applauded the media for noting Western hypocricy on the matter.
“Now they (media) see the hypocrisy of it and yes they will put that headline (Obama snubs Mugabe) and if you read the copy you will see that the story is a grounded one,” he said.
Online Reporter