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Mugabe slams MDC 'puppets'
24/02/2007 18:50 - (SA)
Gweru - Celebrating his 83rd
birthday on Saturday, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe accused his main
opposition rival of trying to oust him with British help, but
vowed these efforts would fail.
Addressing thousands of supporters from his ruling Zanu-PF
party at a party to mark his birthday, Mugabe said his
government was working hard to turn around the economy.
He said, however, his plans were being sabotaged by those
trying to overthrow him, including Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
"Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC, those puppets of the
British, are trying to organise to remove us from power to
fulfil an agenda given to them by the British," he said.
"But their efforts will come to nought because we have the
support of the people and, even if he denounces us
from the top of a mountain or appeals for foreign intervention
from there, we are not going to fall," he said at the party in a
stadium in the quiet central Zimbabwe city of Gweru.
While Zanu-PF laid on a feast for his birthday, the IMF
expressed deep concern over Zimbabwe's deteriorating social and
economic conditions.
The MDC has said
the party is "in bad taste" given the state of the economy.
Doctors, nurses and teachers have staged wildcat strikes
demanding higher wages to cushion against rampant inflation.
IMF reaffirms sanctions
The International Monetary Fund said on Friday it would
maintain its suspension of financial and technical assistance to
Zimbabwe. Harare had failed to clear its debt arrears and
address the worsening economic and social crisis, the IMF said.
Mugabe, who turned 83 on Wednesday, routinely lambastes
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W
Bush. On Saturday he said: "Neither Bush nor Blair can bring
regime change here. We will never allow that."
The government banned political rallies and protests in
volatile townships and districts in Harare on
Wednesday - a move the opposition compared to a "state of
emergency".
On Friday the police cancelled an opposition meeting
in the country's second largest city of Bulawayo.
The 3-month ban followed weekend clashes between riot squads
and opposition supporters when the police fired teargas and
water cannons to stop a major rally.
The leader will officially end his term in March 2008, but
Zanu-PF is considering a change to electoral laws which would
give him two more years in power.
Mugabe has ruled the southern African country since
independence from Britain in 1980 and critics, who accuse the
president of human rights violations, say his nationalist
policies have plunged the economy into deep crisis.
- Reuters
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News
Zimbabwe Special Report
