Mugabe government accuses Australia of financing terror

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Zimbabwe's information minister said yesterday that the Australian government was financing "terrorist activities" by channeling money to aid groups in favor of toppling Robert Mugabe's government.

It's a ridiculous accusation, of course. Here's the back story: On Sunday, Australian Prime Minister John Howard ordered the Australian cricket team to boycott its scheduled tour of Zimbabwe because of the Mugabe regime's human rights abuses. He called Mugabe a "grubby dictator," and argued that the Mugabe government is "behaving like the Gestapo towards its political opponents." Then on Tuesday, he committed $A18 million ($15 million) to backing Mugabe's political critics, including $A6 million for human rights and humanitarian groups. That's what prompted the "terrorist activities" charge. (Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change who was famously beaten up two months ago, welcomed Howard's decision.)

Howard doesn't plan to mix sports and human rights for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, though:

I have absolutely no intention of intervening in relation to the Olympics in Beijing except to give very strong support to the Australian team."