Wolfowitz says Zimbabwe evictions 'a tragedy'

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Zimbabwe is in "pretty bad shape and getting worse," new World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said on Saturday, adding that reports of thousands being driven from informal settlements was a "tragedy."


Speaking between meetings in South Africa's commercial center Johannesburg at the end of a tour of Africa that has also taken him to Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Rwanda, Wolfowitz said leadership was key to solving the continent's problems.

"It is certainly true that leadership can be a critical factor and the four countries I've visited have good leadership and that is why they have been making progress," the former U.S. deputy defense secretary told Reuters shortly before meeting South African President Thabo Mbeki.

But Wolfowitz said South Africa's northern neighbor Zimbabwe, which is suffering from inflation, economic collapse and food shortages, was in a "pretty bad shape and getting worse."

Aid workers say around 200,000 Zimbabweans have been made homeless by a recent blitz by President Robert Mugabe's government on informal settlements and stalls, hurting a population already hit by AIDS and bad harvests.

"These latest reports of hundreds and thousands of people driven out of their homes is both inhuman and it must do enormous damage to development prospects for the country," he said. "It's a tragedy."

"Those damned slum dwellers just eat too much. It is better they head off to the bush to die."

(Sarcasm intended)

Mugabe's answer to food shortages. Reduce the population.

And push the people who form the opposition strongolds into the rural areas where the thugs can keep them in line.