President Thabo Mbeki & others embraces Robert Mugabe

South African President Thabo Mbeki & others embraces Dictator Robert Mugabe of ZimbabweBarclays' millions help to prop up Mugabe regimehttp://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2 000349,00.htmlThree British firms provide key finance, allowing the Zimbabwe leader to defy world condemnation Antony Barnett and Christopher ThompsonSunday January 28, 2007The 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 Bankhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4...

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