Africa News
Zimbabwe's Mugabe vows to combat "regime change"
Feb 24, 2007, 16:43 GMT
Harare - President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe on Saturday reiterated his opposition to 'regime change' in the country as the longtime leader celebrated his 83rd birthday together with thousands of ruling party supporters.
Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980, turned 83 on Wednesday, but celebrations were held Saturday at a soccer stadium in the central town of Gweru.
Ministers, ruling party officials, diplomats and thousands of supporters thronged Mkoba stadium, the venue of this year's party that was held at a time of worsening economic problems and heightened political tensions.
'There will never be a regime change,' Mugabe said in comments broadcast live on state radio. 'There will always be the people of Zimbabwe in control.'
'Our nation faces continued socio-economic challenges resulting from the illegal sanctions imposed on us by our detractors as punishment for repossessing our land,' Mugabe added, in reference to his governments controversial land reform programme.
This week Britain and the EU extended for another year travel sanctions and asset freezes on Mugabe and around 100 government and ruling party officials.
The sanctions were first imposed in 2002 following disputed presidential elections won by Mugabe.
Mugabe and his government blame the sanctions for the country's economic meltdown, marked by spiralling levels of unemployment and poverty, and inflation of close to 1,600 per cent.
The veteran leader, who spoke Saturday mainly in the local Shona language, said the country's youths had a critical role to play in maintaining food security and protecting the country's independence.
He trumpeted his governments computerization programme at schools mainly in rural areas.
Mugabe's government has an uneasy relationship with digital advances. The ruling party is considering a bill that will allow security officials to monitor emails and tap phone calls in what the government says is a bid to boost national security.
Mugabe's birthday party was estimated to cost 300 million Zimbabwe dollars (1.2 million US).
Critics say the money raised for the celebration would have been better spent on improving working conditions for doctors, nurses and teachers, all of whom have been on strike.
This week police banned the opposition from holding rallies and political meetings in the capital Harare and the nearby working class town of Chitungwiza both hotbeds of opposition support.
On Friday evening, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was blocked by riot police from holding a meeting in the second city of Bulawayo. The MDC says the bans are tantamount to declaring a state of emergency.
Mugabe's birthday is always a colourful event on Zimbabwe's calendar. This year the president was given a stuffed crocodile by members of staff in the president's office.
And in a sign of warm ties between Zimbabwe and China, the Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe Yuan Nansheng this week gave Mugabe and his family a luxury bus for the president's personal use.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
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A lesson for Western bullies
Zimbabwean tyrant, Robert Mugabe's lavish 83rd birthday bash is an unfortable lesson to the self-righteous Western governments, led by Britain, who think punishing the devil is the same as fighting for the people of Zimbabwe. The dire situation ordinary Zimbabweans find themselves in today is offspring of Mugabe's corrupt rule and Western sanctions. Robert Mugabe and the West are equally to blame for the stalled democratic process. Can Tony Blair or George Bush tell me what positive effect the sanctions have brought to the political process? Zimbabweans are continuallly having to chose daily survival over fighting for their rights. Since the external debate on Zimbabwe has now mutated into a question of diplomacy in which the players expect nothing short of victory, Western powers will continue to apply punitive measures with no bearing on the democratic process. The Chinese just gave Mugabe another luxury bus; they'll welcome him to Being any time. Isn't it time to democratize the international on Zimbabwe. To the West, sanctions and other punitive measures are not the answer. To Mugabe dialogue is the answer. To the opposition on the ground in Zimbabwe, the answer is to disgard the posibility of being condemned by the West and dialogue with the tyrant.
...when the west refrained from sanctions on S. Africa for apartheid, we were criticised as being racist. There was never a peep about how it might hurt the population.
Now, when we use them to punish a regime, we are being unfeeling, or worse. You need to quit blaming the west for your own failures. A good start would be to defend white farmers rights. This way, you could legitimately claim to not be racists, which you are.
Obert Madondo
I do feel for the people of Zim, however every one has a responsibility to his own country and if that means risking life for change then please understand that every free nation in the world has paid that price at sometime or another. Mugabe got you guys into sanctions when he started a race war against a white minority and none of the majority black population gave a hoot. Now that it has backfired and you cant feed yourselves while Mugabe wallows away in his palaces you find it easy to blame the west. Where was your indignation when his thugs were dragging whites off their farms and killing them.
It really angers me to see Mugabe always putting the blame on the West. He is constantly telling the people that all of the country's problems are the result of British sabotage when in actual fact it is his courrupt and oppressive regime that is holding down our country. Besides, the West did not impose sanctions on the whole of Zimbabwe, they are actually aimed just at Mugabe and his henchmen. I just wish that the British would get tough with Mugabe, he is like a virus keeping Zimbabwe from developing a healthy economy.
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Someone pull the Plug on this Old BastardFeb 24th, 2007 - 17:49:00
He's taken a beautiful country (Rhodesia) that used to export lots of food and trashed it into a starving death camp. He needs to be Saddamized and fast. Maybe colonialism wasn't that bad afterall, these 2-bit African tyrants are worse and S.Africa is going down fast with the highest child rape crimes anywhere-just for starters. Bring back the Dutch or something, these guys don't even know how to feed themselves. Stop giving them anymore weapons because all they do is use them on each other or shoot their endangered species for a few laughs-it really is pathetic.
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