Monday, August 10, 2009

Mugabe: New Zimbabwe Govt Must Stand up to the West

HARARE – President Robert Mugabe on Monday accused Britain of wanting to dictate terms to Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government and said Harare may have to reconsider relations with London and its Western allies.

Mugabe called on Zimbabwe’s new unity government to stand up to the West, appearing to reject efforts by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai who has been pushing to restore relations with Western nations that are capable of providing badly needed financial aid to Harare.

Speaking at the burial of former top ally and vice president Joseph Msika, Mugabe said: “Let everyone in the inclusive government know that our nation will never prosper through foreign handouts, no nation ever did with merely a dime here for drugs, a dime for food, a farthing here for disease and another farthing for your budget. Nations are built on their own endowments.

“We must assert ourselves as the inclusive government, we must say no you (Britain) cannot come to us as principals to tell us what to do. We say no to British rule, no to colonialism.”

Tsvangirai and another former opposition leader Arthur Mutambara, who both attended Msika’s burial, agreed to form a power-sharing government with Mugabe last February to try to tackle Zimbabwe’s multi-faceted crisis.

Analysts say the coalition government offers Zimbabwe the best opportunity in a decade to restore stability and end a devastating economic and humanitarian crisis that had seen the once prosperous country suffer rampant inflation, acute food shortages, record unemployment and deepening poverty.

But the administration, which says it needs US$10 billion to revive the economy, could fail to deliver on its promise unless it is able to unlock vital financial support from Western donor governments that have remained reluctant to provide aid until they see evidence that Mugabe is committed to genuinely share power with Tsvangirai. – ZimOnline