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'Strip Mugabe of degree'
19/04/2007 22:09 - (SA)
London - A British official has urged a Scottish university to strip Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe of an honorary degree.
Labour Party legislator Nigel Griffiths said on Thursday that the honorary doctorate presented to Mugabe by Edinburgh University 23 years ago should swiftly be withdrawn.
Mugabe, once hailed in the West as a freedom fighter turned statesman, has seen his international image crumble as Zimbabwe, which he has led for the past 27 years, descended into political repression and economic chaos.
"Edinburgh has got a terrible dilemma," said Griffiths.
"They've given an honorary degree to somebody who made a great contribution to the fight for the freedom, but who none of us expected to turn into a corrupt monster."
Griffiths, a former student of Edinburgh University, has tabled a motion in parliament calling for the degree to be withdrawn because Mugabe has "reduced the people of Zimbabwe to poverty and a state of terror".
The motion - signed by four other officials - has no force, but Griffiths said it would show university authorities the depth of public support for a decision to revoke the degree.
The university said Mugabe's degree was under review, but did not elaborate.
Mugabe, 83, has found his academic credentials under threat in the United States as well. The University of Massachusetts officials said earlier this month that they were discussing whether to revoke Mugabe's doctorate of law, awarded in 1986.
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