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South African President Thabo Mbeki & others embraces Dictator Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe
BARCLAYS' MILLIONS HELP TO PROP UP MUGABE REGIME
http://observer.guardian.co.uk
/world/story/0,,2000349,00.html
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http://observer.guardian.co.uk
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Barclays' millions help to prop up Mugabe regime
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Barclays' millions help to prop up Mugabe regime
Three British firms provide key finance, allowing the Zimbabwe leader to defy world condemnation
Antony Barnett and Christopher Thompson
Sunday January 28, 2007
The Observer
Barclays bank is helping to bankroll President Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe, providing millions of pounds of support for his vilified land reforms, The Observer can reveal. Mugabe's opponents describe the bank's activities as a 'disgrace' and an 'insult' to the millions who have suffered human rights abuses.
Barclays is the most high-profile of three British-based financial institutions, which, in total, have provided more than $1bn in direct and indirect funding to Mugabe's administration. The other two companies are Standard Chartered Bank and the insurance firm Old Mutual. According to influential newsletter Africa Confidential, that first disclosed the Barclays' loans, the British organisations provide an economic lifeline keeping Mugabe's regime afloat.
A spokesman for Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, likened the bank's actions to its support of South Africa's apartheid regime and urged a boycott.
One of the most controversial of Barclays' Zimbabwe loans is the £30m it provides to a state-sponsored agricultural 'facility' aiming to sustain land reforms that saw Mugabe seize white-owned farmland and drive more than 100,000 black workers from their homes. The government has expelled more than a million opposition supporters from Harare and Bulawayo, dumping them in the countryside.
Britain backs targeted international sanctions against the regime - although there are no economic sanctions - which prevent Mugabe or his political associates travelling to Europe or the US. It is estimated that Barclays, Standard Chartered Bank and Old Mutual have lent the Mugabe regime about £100m by purchasing treasury bills and government bonds.
Speaking to The Observer from South Africa, Tendai Biti, MDC secretary- general, reacted angrily: 'It is immoral and it is criminal. Barclays defended their immoral actions in supporting the apartheid government in South Africa and they seem intent on repeating history in Zimbabwe.'
Liberal Democrat chief whip Norman Lamb said: 'By going along with the rules provided by the Zimbabwe regime [the companies] become complicit with the actions of Zimbabwe's government and complicit with a corrupt regime ... I struggle to see a justification.'
Any commercial bank operating in Zimbabwe must reinvest 40 per cent of its profits in government bonds. Barclays has arranged finance facilities worth $110m to Zimbabwean companies involved in tobacco, mining, sugar, manufacturing and the horticultural sectors.
Last year Barclays bought South Africa's Absa bank for more than £2bn, making it one of the Mugabe government's biggest private financiers. Zimbabwe has one of the world's lowest life expectancy rates and the highest inflation, expected to hit more than 4,000 per cent this year.
Barclays says it has had customers in Zimbabwe for decades and abandoning them now would make matters worse. A spokesman said: 'We have been in Zimbabwe since 1912 and have 1,000 employees serving 150,000 retail, business and corporate customers in the country. We are committed to continuing to provide a service to those customers in what is clearly a difficult operating environment.
As with all other banks and businesses, Barclays is required to comply with the regulations of the Reserve Bank. This involves participating from time to time in the purchase of treasury bills and government bonds.'
Old Mutual, the London insurance firm, holds investments on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange worth about 16 per cent of the market and has a stake in Zimbabwe Newspapers, which publishes the Herald and the Chronicle. Nobody from Old Mutual was available for comment.
A spokesman for Standard Chartered Bank confirmed his institution had lent Mugabe money through purchase of government bonds. He said: 'This is part of doing business in Zimbabwe.'
Barclays pays £2.9bn for ABSA Bank
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4527171.stm

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Comments for this video on YouTube

The comments that I ... ( 2 months ago by levaai)

The comments that I made before were racist and divisive. I'm sorry. I'm just trying to say Mugabe's probably not as terrible as Western media has led us to believe.

Please read my ... ( 2 months ago by levaai)

Please read my latest comment.

MUGABE AND MBEKI ... ( 2 months ago by Michael121307)

MUGABE AND MBEKI ARE USELESS!!! MBEKI should be ousted, he has done nothing to south africa...

I'll make it simple ... ( 2 months ago by keilyngodson26)

I'll make it simple. Fuck all white "Africans". Africa will never prosper until they eliminate the cancer that is white people. Long live Mugabe!

to hell with these ... ( 2 months ago by chigudo)

to hell with these blacks like keilyngodson they live in britain but he says this about whites blacks like this need to go back to africa and us whites need to go to europe if this guy loves africa then why is he in the west keilyngodson i will rip your sisters anus to pieces get out of europe and go back to africa to forage wild fruits

You can do ... ( 2 months ago by Acts520)

You can do something about Zimbabwe besides wring your hands. Please see video posted by Acts520.

You neglect the ... ( 2 months ago by SinoWestR)

You neglect the fact that it was Lord Carrington and Henry Kissinger who played a big part in getting Mugabe in power. I suggest you stop watching tv for awhile, Mugabe is acting on the 'world stage'. Mugabe said that he doe not have a problem with British Royalty. Never mind the fact that the Royal family was born out of conquest. Robert Mugabe said that he does have a problem with the 'demons' in no. 10. He wasn't condeminig no. 10 in London, he was complementing them with a nudge and a wink.

keilyngodson26 is ... ( 2 months ago by SinoWestR)

keilyngodson26 is just misguided like you. Hopefully the both of you will take the red pill. If Britain is so against Mugabe, why is Britain making it so difficult for black Zimbabwans to come here? After the UN speech made by Mugabe, I'm sure he met with his buddies, (Brown and Bush) and had a good laugh at our expense. Curiously, its the sanctions that are strengthening Mugabe. hmmmm! Strange that!

Tell that to the ... ( 3 weeks ago by samothesamo)

Tell that to the black people that oppose him and are then sorted out with a machete or machine gun. The outrage is that a once powerful african country is reduced to ashes through one mans power hungry struggle. Honestly, whites are certainly not "jealous". Blacks on the other hand should feel ashamed that this fool represents everything despicable in africa

Please come to ... ( 3 weeks ago by samothesamo)

Please come to africa and live like a true african keilyngodson26. I'm white, but I'm more african than you'll ever be. Can you even speak an african language? Fuck you, you Idiotic piece of shit.

There is no such ... ( 3 weeks ago by keilyngodson26)

There is no such thing as a white African. We know how you got there, and we know they dont want you there. Go back to hell devils.

Oh lord no, not ... ( 3 weeks ago by samothesamo)

Oh lord no, not another african american with a massive chip on his shoulder. Who are you to say there is no such thing as a white african? Nevertheless you're right when you say blacks don't want us here, it's a shame really, since it's whites that gave blacks all over the world their freedom. How many whites died for your black ass so you can use the internet today? Go back to school you self righteous wanker.

So it is O.K. for ... ( 3 weeks ago by keilyngodson26)

So it is O.K. for whites to slaughter Africans for centuries and steal their land, but when Mugabe Kills in the name of sovereignty, he is Hitler? Get the fuck outta here cracker. You devils are all hypocrites and will only see the truth in HELL! There are NO African whites but by bloody violence and murder. And just as you came, so shall you leave. Fuck all of you! You'd better leave now while you can....Uhuru!

Africans hate your ... ( 3 weeks ago by keilyngodson26)

Africans hate your pasty face samo. They know where you came from, and they know how you got there. You WILL pay for for your fathers sins.

Whites never gave ... ( 3 weeks ago by keilyngodson26)

Whites never gave Africans ANYTHING but death, destruction and confusion. Your time is up, salute your Black president Obama!

In the name of ... ( 3 weeks ago by samothesamo)

In the name of sovereignty? You sure are a deluded nutter. Stick your uhuru up your arse, it's people like you that will make sure nothing gets better, nothing gets solved. . I have lived through oppression myself, so don't come here and make out that whites are the devils and you guys are all innocent. Your problem is, is that you are terrified of white people, we scare the living shit out of you. Fuck your "sins of the father" bullshit, fucking swine

My president is on ... ( 3 weeks ago by samothesamo)

My president is on the rocks bud, Obama is not my president (I am glad he was elected though, all honour to him), and he's more man than you are!! What is that makes you african- do you think because your skin is black, that makes you african? Yiza e afrika uzofundainyaniso nge africa, then uzoxola nge africa - get lost fucker

Guarantee I come to ... ( 3 weeks ago by keilyngodson26)

Guarantee I come to Africa and get more respect than your white ass. Bet.

Why would I be ... ( 3 weeks ago by keilyngodson26)

Why would I be scared of the devil? No-one is scared of you cracker. Remember the Blacks have guns now, unlike when your forefathers came in and mowed them down with machine guns to their spears, women and children(I do read) You should fear the Uhuru.

Listen kid, I'm ... ( 3 weeks ago by samothesamo)

Listen kid, I'm tired of your shit, get lost, you're nothing but an immature racist brat with dilusions of granduer. You should fear your own stupidity. Child!

You'll get yourself ... ( 3 weeks ago by samothesamo)

You'll get yourself killed for being a foreigner, don't you watch the news?

We mowed down your ... ( 3 weeks ago by samothesamo)

We mowed down your ancestors with machine guns in 1820 and before then too? Oh man, the lights are on but no ones home. You guys have guns now? Hope you in particular decide to use one on yourself and rid the world of an oxygen thief.

So you whites think ... ( 3 weeks ago by keilyngodson26)

So you whites think that the atrocious sins of your forefathers will just magically be wiped away? You arent even a full generation away from those crimes, people are still affected by these horrible acts. And the fact that you have access to a computer, while there are Africans who dont have food pisses me the fuck off! Retribution is universal law. In the bible and through nature. Every action has a reaction. You cant escape your fate. Just hope they have mercy on your mother and children.

First off, you are ... ( 2 weeks ago by keilyngodson26)

First off, you are not a Lion and I surely am not a deer. And if I so choose to I could simply grab a gun and wipe you, the deer and the lion of the face of the planet. So dont reply to me with your racist analogies which support the genocide of Africans on behalf of white euro-peon devils. You wreak of apartheid! Did you forget how you got there? Your fathers and grandfathers killed women,children and men to put you there. Dont believe me? Part of it is on tape, go watch. You have hell to pay!