Anti-US rhetoric takes centre stage at FAO anniversary ceremony

October 17, 2005 
Bangkok Post
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/breakingnews.php?id=56020


Rome (dpa) - Venezuela's Hugo Chavez depicted the United States as a menace for the planet and Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe likened its leader to a Fascist dictator seeking to rule the world during a ceremony Monday in Rome marking the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 

Addressing scores of heads of state and government officials attending a plenary session at FAO's headquarters, the Venezuelan President lashed out at what he called the global colonialism of U.S. President George W. Bush. 

I hereby accuse the North American empire of being the biggest menace to our planet, Chavez said. 

The firebrand South American leader has long been engaged in a war of words with the White House, which he accuses of interfering in Venezuela's domestic affairs. 

On Monday he also expressed scepticism at FAO ambitions of halving the world's hungry, currently at 852 million, by 2015. He said the United Nations agency could count on only a small fraction of the money that richer countries spend on subsidising agriculture and exports. 

Under the present circumstances, it will take at least 200 years, Chavez said of FAO's ambitious Millennium Development Goal. 

Moments later, Zimbabwe President Mugabe digressed from his prepared speech to attack the U.S. and its ally Britain over their unholy campaign in Iraq. 

Mugabe likened Bush and Britain's Tony Blair to the wartime dictators of Italy and Germany, Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, and their idea that they can decide who should rule in Asia and Africa, Venezuela or Iraq. 

Must we allow these men, the two unholy men of our millennium, who in the same way as Hitler and Mussolini formed an unholy alliance, formed an alliance to attack an innocent country? Mugabe said. 

As he spoke, opposition leaders in Zimbabwe moved to bolster support for a boycott of next month's senate elections and thieves were reported to be mounting armed raids on potato farms near the capital Harare as the country comes to grips with its worst economic crisis in 25 years of independence. 

Mugabe blames the country's current economic hardship on colonialism and on rich countries' economic policies. 

The European Union has imposed a travel ban on Mugabe, but the Zimbabwe leader is allowed to travel to E.U. countries to attend United Nations events. 

Earlier, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf had called on the organization to adapt to the changes of the last 60 years if it is to rise to new challenges and profit from emerging opportunities. 

President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi of Italy were among several other heads of state attending the ceremony marking the founding in 1945 of the organization charged with fighting hunger in the world.