Mugabe orders wildlife reserves to kill animals

JOHANNESBURG - Fresh from his disputed victory in Zimbabwe's parliamentary elections, President Robert Mugabe has turned his sights on the country's wildlife reserves in a bid to feed thousands of famished villagers.

Zimbabwe's National Parks have been ordered to work with rural district councils to begin the wholesale slaughter of big game. Parks rangers said they had already shoot 10 elephants in the last week and their meat was barbecued at festivities to mark Zimbabwe's 25 years of independence.

The 10 elephants were killed by National Park rangers. Four of the giant animals were reportedly shot in full view of tourists near Zimbabwe's Lake Kariba, the largest man made lake in Africa and a major haven for wildlife.

Five years after ordering the confiscation of white-owned farms, the Mugabe regime has turned the country once dubbed the breadbasket of Africa, into a famished land with an estimated four million rural poor suffering from food shortages.

The directive is a major blow to efforts by conservationists to rehabilitate the wildlife sector which was devastated after Mr Mugabe ordered his supporters to invade and confiscate white-owned farms in 2000.

The chaotic farm invasions saw party militants storming into conservation areas - both private and state-owned - to slaughter animals. Unscrupulous South African hunters also joined in the looting, paying hefty kickbacks to politicians to go into conservation areas and shoot lions, leopards and cheetahs for trophies.

But because of the general abundance of certain species of wildlife in southern Zimbabwe and the establishment of the trans-frontier park, which allows animals from Mozambique and South Africa's world famous Kruger National Park to move freely into and out of Zimbabwe's Gonarezhou (home of the elephants) National Park, there have been high hopes among conservationists that Zimbabwe's wildlife sector could be restored to its former glory.

Zimbabwean conservationists have been particularly scathing about the killings of the elephants for independence celebrations. Meat from a giraffe killed to feed rural peasants in the Binga area during the independence festivities disappeared. It is believed that police and army officials appropriated the meat for themselves and it never reached its intended beneficiaries.

Rural peasants in Zimbabwe have relied on their own livestock in the past three years of unprecedented famine, induced by Mr Mugabe's chaotic land seizures. Their plight had even worsened since the government stopped international donors from distributing food aid so he could take charge of the process himself and punish those who did not support him.

National Parks officials say many of the peasants living in areas bordering National Parks have already been venturing into these parks to hunt and kill animals with snares. But they said the impact of snare hunting by the villagers was limited compared to what would happen if armed National Parks rangers were allowed to enter conservation areas to kill for meat to feed millions of hungry peasants.

"Killing of animals for any reasons other than conservation can be very disastrous," said one National Parks official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"The politicians think we have enough animals to feed people without wiping out different species. We as professionals don't think so. We are talking to them (the politicians) and we hope we will reach consensus on protecting our wildlife heritage."

Other government officials said Mr Mugabe was so happy about his rural constituency which ensured him a majority of seats in last month's parliamentary elections and wanted to do everything to please the peasants.

Mr Mugabe's party lost nearly all seats in urban areas, strongholds of the opposition, and won in rural areas where it had created more constituencies. He has even created a new ministry to specifically look after the rural electorate.

Food ran out in Zimbabwe soon after the election and the country has experienced acute power and fuel shortages over the past two weeks. Basic commodities have disappeared from supermarket shelves.

Mr Mugabe has promised to jail manufacturers whom he accuses of creating shortages to encourage people to revolt.

- INDEPENDENT