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President Threatens Whites in Zimbabwe
Fri Dec 13, 9:10 AM ET
By ANGUS SHAW, Associated Press Writer
HARARE, Zimbabwe - President Robert Mugabe threatened retribution against the white population of Zimbabwe on Friday, suggesting they were working with Britain, the former colonial power, to sabotage his government.
Mugabe accused the British of leading an international campaign to isolate Zimbabwe and recruit support for his opponents inside his country.
"The more they work against us, the more they express hostility against us, the more negative we shall become to their kith and kin here," Mugabe said at the opening of his ruling party's annual convention.
The embattled Mugabe, however, did not refer to the nation's deepening economic crisis and a looming famine largely blamed on his party's policies.
In an 80-minute address, Mugabe railed against whites, Britain and its Western allies whom he accused of "nurturing enemies among us" by criticizing his party and supporting the main opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change.
"We are the type of people who, if you step on our foot, we fight back," said Mugabe.
Mugabe wore a baseball cap bearing the slogan "Chave Chimurenga," meaning "It is now war" in the local Shona language.
The white population in Zimbabwe stands at about 30,000 ? less than 1 percent of the population.
More than double that number lived in the southern African country 2 1/2 years ago, before ruling party militants began a campaign to seize white-owned farms, sparking political and economic unrest.
Most whites are the descendants of colonial era British and South African settlers.
The government has repeatedly accused Western countries and local whites of funding the main opposition that narrowly lost presidential elections in March.
"They are the enemies of the people and our government. We must be on our guard. Our survival is an ongoing war," Mugabe told about 2,000 ruling party loyalists at the convention in the provincial town of Chinhoyi, 70 miles northwest of Harare.
In his one reference to the country's economic woes, he said gasoline shortages that have left most of Zimbabwe's gas stations dry would be discussed in a closed session by delegates.
Delegates cheered and danced as Mugabe walked to the podium, but their response to his address was uncharacteristically muted compared to previous years.
Some laughed when Philip Chiyangwa, ruling party lawmaker for Chinhoyi, welcomed them to "Zimbabwe's bread basket."
Once known as southern Africa's bread basket, Zimbabwe now faces acute food shortages. The World Food Program says at least 6.7 million Zimbabweans, more than half the population, will need emergency food aid in coming months to avert mass starvation.
Mugabe says the food crisis on a drought earlier this year, while most analysts blames political violence and disruptions in the agriculture-based economy during the government's program to confiscate thousands of white-owned commercial farms that now lie virtually idle.
Mugabe on Thursday promised to enforce a widely abused government price freeze on most goods to slow record inflation, officially estimated at 144 percent but seen to be much higher. .How sad that a country that once exported food is now on the verge of mass starvation. Maybe the new and Improved EU should send in the Rapid Deployment Force or something.
Fri Dec 13, 9:10 AM ET
By ANGUS SHAW, Associated Press Writer
HARARE, Zimbabwe - President Robert Mugabe threatened retribution against the white population of Zimbabwe on Friday, suggesting they were working with Britain, the former colonial power, to sabotage his government.
Mugabe accused the British of leading an international campaign to isolate Zimbabwe and recruit support for his opponents inside his country.
"The more they work against us, the more they express hostility against us, the more negative we shall become to their kith and kin here," Mugabe said at the opening of his ruling party's annual convention.
The embattled Mugabe, however, did not refer to the nation's deepening economic crisis and a looming famine largely blamed on his party's policies.
In an 80-minute address, Mugabe railed against whites, Britain and its Western allies whom he accused of "nurturing enemies among us" by criticizing his party and supporting the main opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change.
"We are the type of people who, if you step on our foot, we fight back," said Mugabe.
Mugabe wore a baseball cap bearing the slogan "Chave Chimurenga," meaning "It is now war" in the local Shona language.
The white population in Zimbabwe stands at about 30,000 ? less than 1 percent of the population.
More than double that number lived in the southern African country 2 1/2 years ago, before ruling party militants began a campaign to seize white-owned farms, sparking political and economic unrest.
Most whites are the descendants of colonial era British and South African settlers.
The government has repeatedly accused Western countries and local whites of funding the main opposition that narrowly lost presidential elections in March.
"They are the enemies of the people and our government. We must be on our guard. Our survival is an ongoing war," Mugabe told about 2,000 ruling party loyalists at the convention in the provincial town of Chinhoyi, 70 miles northwest of Harare.
In his one reference to the country's economic woes, he said gasoline shortages that have left most of Zimbabwe's gas stations dry would be discussed in a closed session by delegates.
Delegates cheered and danced as Mugabe walked to the podium, but their response to his address was uncharacteristically muted compared to previous years.
Some laughed when Philip Chiyangwa, ruling party lawmaker for Chinhoyi, welcomed them to "Zimbabwe's bread basket."
Once known as southern Africa's bread basket, Zimbabwe now faces acute food shortages. The World Food Program says at least 6.7 million Zimbabweans, more than half the population, will need emergency food aid in coming months to avert mass starvation.
Mugabe says the food crisis on a drought earlier this year, while most analysts blames political violence and disruptions in the agriculture-based economy during the government's program to confiscate thousands of white-owned commercial farms that now lie virtually idle.
Mugabe on Thursday promised to enforce a widely abused government price freeze on most goods to slow record inflation, officially estimated at 144 percent but seen to be much higher. .How sad that a country that once exported food is now on the verge of mass starvation. Maybe the new and Improved EU should send in the Rapid Deployment Force or something.
