Mugabe to 'retire in 5yrs'
2004-02-21 15:34
Harare - Zimbawe's President Robert Mugabe on Friday announced he will retire from power within five years.
In an interview broadcast on state television and radio on the eve on his 80th birthday, Mugabe said in five years time he will have retired but still in politics.
"In five years, (I will) still (be) boxing, writing quite a lot, reading quite a lot and still in politics, I wont leave politics, but I will have retired obviously," he said.
Mugabe, who has been at the helm of the southern African country for nearly 24 years, since independence from Britain in 1980, did not indicate that he will stand for re-election in the next presidential polls due in 2008.
He was re-elected in March 2002 presidential polls which were disputed by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) as fraudulent and marked with rights abuses.