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<th nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE" align="RIGHT">Sujet: </th>
<td>[Gnc] La Grande-Bretagne rejette la demande d'audit de la
dette du Zimbabwe</td>
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<th nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE" align="RIGHT">Date : </th>
<td>Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:09:19 +0100</td>
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<th nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE" align="RIGHT">De : </th>
<td>Renaud Vivien <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:renaud@cadtm.org"><renaud@cadtm.org></a></td>
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<th nowrap="nowrap" valign="BASELINE" align="RIGHT">Pour : </th>
<td><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:gnc@cadtm.org">gnc@cadtm.org</a></td>
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<td class="contentheading" width="100%">Ici un extrait :<br>
<br>
“The UK does not support a debt audit, which the (Zimcodd
and Zen) report recommends as a way for discussions of debt
cancellation to be informed by the ‘legitimacy’ of the
original loans. Loans made to internationally recognised
governments are bound by legal contracts and recognised in
international law."<br>
<br>
“Attempting after the fact to distinguish between legitimate
and illegitimate debts could cause lenders to refuse to
provide further loans and would be catastrophic for
developing countries attempting to strengthen their
economies and reduce poverty through accessing international
financing.”<br>
<br>
Y'aurait vraiment matière à faire un CP. Reste à savoir qui
le fait!?<span class="moz-smiley-s1"><span> :-) </span></span><br>
<br>
Bonne soirée,<br>
<br>
Renaud <br>
<br>
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<td valign="top"> <span class="small"> By Gift Phiri, Senior
Writer </span> </td>
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<td class="createdate" valign="top"> Tuesday, 24 January 2012
15:59 </td>
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<p><strong>HARARE - </strong>UK Development minister Andrew
Mitchell has rejected civil society calls to audit
Zimbabwe’s $7 billion debt before admitting the southern
African county into the Highly Indebted Poor Countries
(Hipc) initiative. <br>
<br>
Hipc is a debt relief programme managed by the World Bank,
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the African
Development Bank (AfDB).<br>
<br>
In a letter seen by the Daily News, Mitchell out-right
rejects calls by the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and
Development (Zimcodd) and the Zimbabwe Europe Network
(Zen) to conduct an official audit of the $7,4 billion
debt to increase accountability over the country’s
finances and help give Zimbabwe’s people control over
their economy.<br>
<br>
The two civil society groups, who are spearheading the
so-called “Jubilee Debt Campaign,” wrote to the British
minister after it emerged that Finance minister Tendai
Biti had engaged the UK embassy in Harare to work out an
arrears’ clearance strategy that will see the country
pursue the HIPC route.<br>
<br>
President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF has already thrown down
the gauntlet and warned that they will not allow Biti to
get Zimbabwe declared a HIPC as a debt write-off strategy
saying the country was not poor but saddled with
sanctions.<br>
<br>
Biti says the $7,4 billion debt was precluding the country
from desperately needed fresh lines of credit and Hipc
status will ensure the debts are written off even though
the country will have to adhere to tough macro-economic
conditions prescribed by international finance
institutions.<br>
<br>
Zimcodd and Zen had proposed that before declaring
Zimbabwe a Hipc, the Zimbabwean Parliament must first
create a “Debt Audit Commission” which would investigate
how the $7,4 billion debt was run up, and who benefitted
from the loans, and learn lessons for future borrowing.<br>
<br>
Mitchell said in his January 5, 2012 letter to Zimcodd and
Zen, lending by international donors was not the primary
cause of Zimbabwe’s economic decline, which accelerated
rapidly after 2000.<br>
<br>
“President Mugabe’s reckless economic mismanagement bears
the major responsibility for the crisis that reached its
nadir in 2008, with hyperinflation, the near collapse of
basic services and a humanitarian crisis that affected
more than seven million people,” Mitchell’s letter says.<br>
<br>
“The UK does not support a debt audit, which the (Zimcodd
and Zen) report recommends as a way for discussions of
debt cancellation to be informed by the ‘legitimacy’ of
the original loans. Loans made to internationally
recognised governments are bound by legal contracts and
recognised in international law."<br>
<br>
“Attempting after the fact to distinguish between
legitimate and illegitimate debts could cause lenders to
refuse to provide further loans and would be catastrophic
for developing countries attempting to strengthen their
economies and reduce poverty through accessing
international financing.”<br>
<br>
Tor-Hugne Olsen, co-ordinator for Zen, was moving to
approach the AfDB president Donald Kaberuka asking him to
release all information relating to Zimbabwe’s debt
profile.<br>
<br>
The Daily News understands the AfDB is taking the lead for
creditors in discussions with Biti on what to do with the
country’s $7 billion debt. Biti has contracted a “debt
expert” with the assistance of the AfDB to assist
government in formulating an external debt and arrears
clearance strategy which will form the basis for debt
relief.<br>
<br>
The two civil society groups want the AfDB to release all
information and evaluation of the AfDB loans which helped
to create Zimbabwe’s $7 billion debt and signal that the
bank would support and co-operate with a debt audit in
Zimbabwe.<br>
<br>
Meanwhile, Mitchell says in his letter the UK government
was working with the international financial institutions
and with donors to clarify Zimbabwe’s indebtedness and
establish its eligibility for debt relief under Hipc.<br>
<br>
“We support this work and have provided all the
information on UK debt requested by the government of
Zimbabwe, as it works through this process,” Mitchell says
in the letter.<br>
<br>
The British Development minister emphasises in the letter
that debt relief and clearance of Zimbabwe’s arrears was
an important element in securing the country’s economic
stability, “not least because it will enable Zimbabwe
again to access international finance to fund its
development and reduce poverty.”<br>
<br>
As the coalition government grapples with rebuilding a
country ravaged by more than a decade of economic and
political turmoil, it has indicated that it needs about
$8.5 billion in emergency aid to revive the economy.<br>
<br>
“Debt relief to Zimbabwe could of course only be given
once the country has completed its political transition,
through free and fair elections that lead to a reforming
government committed to equitable and sustainable
development,” Mitchell said in the letter.<br>
<br>
Dewa Mavhinga, regional co-ordinator for pro-democracy
pressure group Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition said Mitchell
had clearly misunderstood the calls for a national debt
audit. “It is not a repudiation of Zimbabwe’s legal loan
contracts, but a mechanism to ensure a full measure of
transparency and accountability,” Mavhinga told the Daily
News.<br>
<br>
“The people of Zimbabwe, through a Parliamentary Debt
Audit Commission, have a right to know what loans the
government of Zimbabwe acquired; for what purpose, and
whether or not the borrowed money was actually used for
its intended purpose. Zimcodd and Zen are correct to
demand a debt audit before a decision on whether to
declare Zimbabwe a Hipc country is taken.”</p>
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