Posted on 03/01/2002 11:49:46 PM PST by kattracks
On the eve of the Commonwealth summit the Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, has lashed out at Tony Blair, telling him to "go to hell" for criticising him in the Commons. With one week to go before the presidential election, Mr Mugabe's invective against Britain is growing more extreme by the day. He launched his latest attack while campaigning in rural areas. Responding to Mr Blair's criticism of the violence and repression Mr Mugabe has used in his election campaign, the president said: "Go to hell. Our people have decided, and that is what matters to us. It's not their [the British government's] right or responsibility to decide on our elections. We don't decide on their own, and why should they poke their pink noses in our business?" Speaking in the northern town of Mvurwi on Thursday, Mr Mugabe repeated charges made by the state-owned Herald newspaper this week that the British government was plotting to unleash violence in Zimbabwe after the elections. The British government has rejected the charges as "total nonsense", but Mr Mugabe persisted in claiming that Mr Blair was conspiring with former Rhodesians and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change to overthrow his government. "What is this latter-day Blair imperialism?" he said. "We will defeat Blair on March 9 and 10. Blair will suffer defeat of his conscience, of his intentions, of the machinations Britain has to this day been displaying in favour of the MDC and against us." Mr Blair should "wash out his dirty mouth", Mr Mugabe said. The opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, had to cancel a rally in the northern city of Marondera yesterday because the venue was surrounded by armed and hostile police, soldiers and youth militia. The city has seen particularly vicious state-sponsored violence against Mr Tsvangirai's supporters. The independent Daily News yesterday carried a front-page picture of a man whose back was carved with the initials "MDC" by the youth militia. Two other men were similarly branded and beaten, and are in the intensive care unit of the Marondera hospital. The MDC said the charred body of one of their officials Newman Bhebhe was discovered on Thursday, bringing the number of opposition party members who have been killed in the past year to 107. Zimbabwe is at the top of the agenda for the Commonwealth heads of government summit which opens today in Australia. The summit, which the Queen will open this afternoon at the Queensland beach resort of Coolum, brings together more than 50 countries, almost all of them at one time under British imperial rule. There will be few formal speeches, and even fewer decisions. When the summit ends on Tuesday, the list of measures agreed by the leaders will be tiny. The ineffectiveness of the Commonwealth was underlined again yesterday when the organisation's executive arm - the Commonwealth ministers' action group, which is made up of eight foreign ministers - failed to reach an agreement on punitive measures against Mr Mugabe. Britain, Canada and Australia pressed for suspension and sanctions, but these were blocked by Nigeria and Botswana. There will be further discussion by leaders this weekend. Further down the agenda is Pakistan, which was suspended from the Commonwealth because of the military coup by President Pervez Musharraf. In spite of his being welcomed back into the international fold by Washington for his cooperation in the war in Afghanistan, the Commonwealth will refuse to readmit the country until democratic elections are held.
LOL
Some people TRULY would rather be king of as dungheap in hell than one of the multitudes singing praises in heaven.
I have a pink nose also..
Remember that remark when you want aid $ there Mugabe...
I certainly will and I think everyone should.
Hmmm.
Do I sense a 'racist' comment here. Couldn't be! These are liberal black leaders with a heightened sense of racial justice!
And they will destroy themselves without our intervention.
Oh well. Geez, look at the time...gotta go...buying a shiny new American car...
Goodbye, Mugabe and goodbye Africa.
My pink nose, and thick green cash, will no longer interfere. Good riddance, creep.
Wait, just a minute here. That comes real close to being a racist remark.
I thought only white people were racist, just ask Jesse or Al or any other so-called black leader.
This scourge (would Orwell have called it "Afrisoc") is already spreading throughout sub Saharan Africa. Once prosperous South Africa is now a cesspool of crime, corruption, disease, falling living standards, and declining lifespans. East Africa, the Congo, Uganda, and Somolia are total basket cases and point the way for South Africa and Zimbabwe.
There is no way out for Africa. There is no leadership other than the head kleptocrat. Western nations must immediately cease aid to all of these corrupt regimes.
Wait till they are starving and sick...
Giving him money now to improve the condition there will only help prop him up and lend him legitimacy, artificially extending his time in power.
Let him know that us pink nosed types don't appreciate such sentiments and if he thinks he can run the place on his own he now has his chance to prove it or apologize.
They don't care. If they are starving and sick, then it's by some fault of the West, certainly not their own, and certainly not their beloved tyrants.
Does anybody know how much American aid went to Mugabe last year?
Mugabe is also a racist. Imagine if Blair had said to Mugabe "keep your black nose out of our business." He'd have been publicly tarred and feathered.
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