Mugabe happy with Zim changes
2005-09-13 07:13
Special Report
A new team of SA mediators have held their first talks with Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe in a fresh bid to ease tensions within the strained unity government, a report says.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe says he doesn't expect the US sanctions on his country to be lifted soon.
Havana - The new amendments to Zimbabwe's constitution restricting property and citizenship rights and creating a senate represent a "consolidation of national power," said President Robert Mugabe on Monday.
During a three-day trip to Cuba, Mugabe said the amendments he signed into law on Friday marked "the liberation of our land" and prevented the "acquisition of land from British settlers".
Mugabe said: "It's now final, and no one can question it."
Mugabe was speaking at Havana's historic Colon Cemetery, where he laid flowers at a tomb for Cuban soldiers, who died fighting in independence movements around the world.
The amendments had declared that all real estate was now available only on 99-year leases from the government.
66-seat senate
The bill also gave the government authority to deny passports if it was deemed in the national interest, a provision government officials had said could be used to keep their critics from travelling abroad to speak out about problems in Zimbabwe.
The amendments also created a 66-seat senate, which critics charged the ruling party would use to increase its patronage powers.
Mugabe quietly made the amendments law before coming to Cuba on Saturday, his ninth visit to the island since 1978.
He was accompanied by his wife, Grace Mugabe, and planned to travel next to New York, where he was to address the United Nations general assembly.
Mugabe was to meet with Cuban President Fidel Castro later on Monday. He called Castro "a revolutionary", saying "so are we, so am I".
'Cubans are being punished'
The African leader said Cuba and Zimbabwe were "comrades at arms", united by similar struggles for independence from global powers.
He said: "The Cubans are being punished with sanctions in the same way we are", referring to a decades-old United States trade embargo against Cuba. "We are in the same trench."
Mugabe said Cuba aided Zimbabwe during the country's independence struggles more than 20 years ago, and "continues to support us to this day".
Zimbabwe's economy had been in free fall with inflation now running at 255% a year, 80% unemployment and chronic shortages of most staples.
Mugabe said: "Inflation comes and goes", adding that the country's natural resources would help improve the economy.
- AP