Ed Royce: “there is an issue of critical concern to the human rights movement around the world and a critical concern to the…”

“there is an issue of critical concern to the human rights movement around the world and a critical concern to the continent of Africa. And it is because tonight, I just want to report, that the country of Zimbabwe is in very, very grim and dire shape. President Robert Mugabe has plundered his country, driving it to ruin. And you know a little bit about the violence that you have seen on television over the last 72 hours. A once prosperous economy has been devastated by misrule; inflation is running at 200,000 percent per year, and life expectancy there has been driven down to a mere 34 years. This was once a major agricultural exporter to the rest of Africa, but many Zimbabweans are now facing starvation because Mugabe has kicked productive farmers off his land. His regime has used food as a weapon; he rewards backers; he starves and punishes opponents. As Karl Marx said: Those who will not obey will not eat. Today, after 28 years of misrule, Mugabe is trying to steal the election, cracking heads to extend his reign. Defeated at the ballot box, the regime has simply refused to release official election results. And, instead, what has it done? It has stepped up its violence against the people across the countryside. It has arrested and killed its political opponents. 3,000 families have been forced from their homes. The torture chambers are full. Human rights groups report on those dead and those tortured to death.”