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Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe: Mugabe says land reforms key to achieving UN development goals

HARARE -- Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Thursday defended his country's violent land reforms saying the reforms were the key to achieving development goals set by the United Nations (UN).
The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) seek to halve poverty, hunger, illiteracy and disease in the world by 2015.

"Land is the driver of the MDG process," said Mugabe.

The veteran Zimbabwean leader was presenting a progress report on Zimbabwe's efforts to fulfill the UN targets which seek to spur development and halve poverty in the world.

"The ongoing land reforms are expected to restore Zimbabwe's pride as the breadbasket of the ... region," Mugabe said.

Zimbabwe is going through a severe five-year economic crisis which has seen the country experience critical shortages of food, medical supplies and fuel.

Critics blame the crisis on Mugabe's mismanagement of the economy which was one of the strongest in Africa at independence 25 years ago.

The country has virtually survived on food handouts from the international community after Mugabe destroyed the key agriculture sector after seizing large commercial farms from whites for redistribution to landless blacks five years ago.

But Mugabe on Thursday denied mismanaging the economy blaming the crisis on drought and "hostile responses of the British and American governments to our land redistribution programme."

Mugabe also said the country was making significant gains in the fight against HIV/AIDS saying there was a marked drop in HIV infection figures.

"There are pleasing indications that behavioural change is starting to take effect as indicated by HIV prevalence figures which have assumed a downward trend based on 15-24 year-old women attending ante-natal clinics."

About 2 000 Zimbabweans are said to be dying of AIDS every week. The UN meets next week to assess progress in attaining the goals. - ZimOnline