THE TELEGRAPH: The cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe is likely to lead to an influx of immigration into the UK, Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, has warned Cabinet colleagues.
She is said to fear that Zimbabweans desperate to flee the cholera outbreak and Robert Mugabe's regime, are buying false passports in neighbouring countries, where visas are not required for travel to Britain, before heading here.
Foreign Office sources are playing down her claim as "alarmist," leading to the potential for a serious rift within Whitehall.
Officials expressed concerns that the Home Office could use Miss Smith's warnings about the potential arrival of thousands of refugees as an excuse to tighten border controls.
This could make it harder for legitimate asylum seekers escaping Mr Mugabe's brutal police state to reach this country.
The BBC reported that the Zimbabwe was creating "real tension in Whitehall," as the Home Office is said to be calling for the introduction of visas for all countries in the region, a move opposed by the Foreign Office.
Miss Smith has told Cabinet colleagues that people fleeing Zimbabwe are buying false passports in countries such as South Africa and Botswana and using them to travel to the UK. >>> By Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent | December 12, 2008
THE TELEGRAPH: Britain Must Not Abandon the Zimbabwean People to Robert Mugabe
The people of Zimbabwe have suffered long enough. They have had little choice but to stand by helplessly as a corrupt, anti-democratic and incompetent regime has brought their country to its knees.
Robert Mugabe, thirty years ago the darling of the African liberation struggle, is now exposed as a desperate tyrant intent on preserving power at all costs.
When Ian Smith’s government was forced from office it seemed Zimbabwe’s future was bright – and initially it was. The bread basket of southern Africa, its strong economy was underpinned by manufacturing, mining and tourism sectors which were the envy of many more developed nations.
Gradually, greed and political interference of the basest kind wore away those advantages and the past decade has seen Zimbabwe accelerating towards the abyss.
The cholera outbreak which has so far claimed nearly 600 lives – and possibly many more – is just the starkest symptom of that collapse. >>> Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for International Development | December 11, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>
