Mugabe says no African country will topple him
In this June 29, 2008 file photo, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe at his inauguration ceremony at State house in Harare. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/FILE)
By ANGUS SHAW
Associated Press Writer
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) – President Robert Mugabe says no African nation has the guts to topple him, state media reported Friday, as the opposition said it would suspend power-sharing talks unless dozens of political detainees are released or charged.
The state-controlled Herald newspaper quoted Mugabe as telling leaders of his party that neighboring Botswana’s calls for his ouster are nothing but hot air.
“How could African leaders ever topple Robert Mugabe, organize an army to come?” Mugabe, who has led the country for 28 years, is quoted as asking. “It is not easy. I do not know of any African country that is brave enough to do that.”
Mugabe’s comments Thursday came as the top U.S. envoy for Africa warned Zimbabwe had effectively collapsed and the world should act urgently to keep it from deteriorating into Somalia-scale chaos.
Most neighboring countries including regional giant South Africa are opposed to military intervention in Zimbabwe, where a cholera epidemic has killed 1,123 people and the United Nations says half the population faces imminent starvation.
Mugabe’s critics blame his policies for the ruin of the once-productive nation. Mugabe blames Western sanctions for the nation’s economic meltdown, though the European Union and U.S. sanctions are targeted only at Mugabe and dozens of his clique with frozen bank accounts and travel bans.
Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party was opening its annual convention Friday in Bindura, 60 miles (90 kilometers) northeast of Harare, the capital. In speaking to the party’s central committee, he acknowledged Thursday that 2008 has been “the most difficult year” but called on party leaders to be united as “better times were beckoning,” the Herald reported.
The convention was being held in an area hit by cholera, and organizers said food and clean water supplies were trucked in to the venue. The state power utility promised to keep electricity going during the meeting. Zimbabweans are suffering dire shortages of piped water and electricity as well as food and medicine.
On Thursday, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer said questions about how much longer Zimbabwe can withstand hunger, disease and political stalemate before disintegrating ignore that “there is a complete collapse right now.”
“We think that the person who has ruined the country … that he needs to step down,” Frazer said. “We’re watching Zimbabwe become a failed state. We need to act now, proactively, in Zimbabwe.”
Frazer was in southern Africa to consult with regional leaders about what can be done to help Zimbabwe. A day earlier, South African President Kgalema Motlanthe stressed that he believed a proposed unity government was the solution, and that it must be formed quickly.
Foreign ministers for the five Nordic countries on Friday called for the end of Mugabe’s “misrule,” saying in a joint statement that Zimbabwe’s authorities “alone bear the responsibility for the tragic situation” facing the country.
To break an impasse over presidential elections, Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai agreed to form a unity government three months ago but have been deadlocked since over how to share Cabinet posts.
Tsvangirai said Friday that he will ask his party, the Movement for Democratic Change, to halt negotiations unless political detainees are released or charged by Jan. 1.
He told a news conference in neighboring Botswana that more than 42 members of his opposition party and civil society have been abducted in the past two months. They include three journalists and their whereabouts remain unknown.
“The MDC can no longer sit at the same negotiating table with a party that is abducting our members and other innocent civilians and refusing to produce any of them before a court of law,” Tsvangirai said.
Also Friday, the central bank unveiled a new 10 billion Zimbabwe dollar bank note, the largest in a range of bills introduced since August when it slashed ten zeros from the old currency in a hopeless effort to keep up with stratospheric inflation.
Associated Press Writer Sello Motseta in Gaborone, Botswana contributed to this report.
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