Zimbabwe government blasts foreign media

HARARE, Zimbabwe — The government warned representatives of foreign media organizations against “peddling false stories” on security issues, the state media reported last Friday.

The government also threatened to clamp down on unlicensed foreign reporters making clandestine visits and said erring reporters should beware of authorities and should “stay away from the security forces” or face action.

State radio and television, Zimbabwe’s sole broadcaster, and the daily Herald newspaper, a government mouthpiece, singled out the U.S. network CNN for what it called biased reports on political unrest and the alleged assault and torture of opposition leaders, including Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the main Movement for Democratic Change.

The government denied foreign news reports that it was forced to call in 2,500 paramilitary reinforcements from Angola to help control unrest because Zimbabwe’s own forces were no longer loyal to President Robert Mugabe.

In a separate statement, the Information Ministry in Harare said CNN’s editorial policy “echoed the United States government’s policy of regime change in Zimbabwe.”

“Sadly, CNN has embedded itself within such a treacherous imperialist policy ... it can no longer validate its claim to be a trusted source of accurate and balanced news opinion,” the statement said.

“We stand by our reporting of the situation in Zimbabwe and look forward to being given the opportunity to report from inside the country,” CNN spokeswoman Megan Mahoney said.

Last year, Zimbabwe officials were enraged by a CNN report that acute food shortages forced hungry Zimbabweans to eat mice. They accused black reporters working for foreign news organizations of betraying their continent.

Four foreign journalists have been expelled under sweeping media laws enforced since 2003 — the British Broadcasting Corp. is officially banned — and scores of independent local journalists have been assaulted or arrested and jailed under the media laws.

Both state television and radio have harshly criticized CNN’s Africa correspondent, Kenya-born Jeff Koinange, now mostly reporting on Zimbabwe from outside the country.

Zimbabwe’s ambassador to the United States, Machivenyika Mapuranga, said on CNN last week that a ban on the Atlanta-based network’s reporters would continue because it and the BBC “champion the imperialist interests of the British and the Americans.”

CNN anchor Michael Holmes responded that, “Reporting the comments of other governments is not acting on their behalf; it’s reporting.”

The information ministry warned Zimbabwean reporters for foreign organizations to “stay clear of the security forces,” and to avoid opposition politicians.

“Should this not stop, government may be forced to act against them and the politician,” said its statement.

It quoted immigration chief Elasto Mugwadi denying foreign news reports that Zimbabweans were flocking to the main border post into South Africa to flee their troubled homeland.

“There is nothing like that. Instead, there is unusual quietness at the border,” he said.

The long-ruling Mugabe, 83, ordered an often-violent land redistribution program in 2000 to seize white-owned commercial farms and hand them over to blacks. The program disrupted the economy of the former regional breadbasket, leading to acute shortages of food, hard currency, gasoline, medicines and other essential imports.

Annual inflation now stands at 1,730 percent in Zimbabwe, and the International Monetary Fund predicts it will reach 5,000 percent by year’s end, sparking opposition activity.

Opposition activists said police assaulted dissidents, including leader Tsvangirai, to break up a March 11 prayer meeting to protest Mugabe’s rule. The opposition, which split in 2005 as a faction revolted against Tsvangirai’s leadership, has said it has unified in the face of the latest violence and will continue to resist.

Associated Press writers Celean Jacobson and Brandon Reed contributed to this report.

(Associated Press)