HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe summoned ambassadors from the United States, Germany and the European Union on Tuesday to admonish them for walking out of an event after President Robert Mugabe told Western powers to go "to hell" for their sanctions.
Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said the envoys left a Zimbabwe national heroes' shrine on Sunday immediately after Mugabe's speech at the burial of his sister Sabina. Protocol dictated that they should have stayed to the end of the proceedings and Mugabe's departure.
"I had summoned the ambassadors to convey our concern and disappointment," Mumbengegwi said at a news conference.
"Their conduct was clearly very, very disrespectful of our national shrine, Zimbabwe, its leaders, its fallen heroes and its people," he said, calling their actions "unacceptable".
U.S ambassador Charles Ray and his German counterpart Albrecht Conze told journalists they left the funeral because they felt that Mugabe's speech was disrespectful.
"When America is treated in the manner it was treated on Sunday, I will react," Ray said.
The United States and the European Union imposed sanctions on state firms and travel restrictions on Mugabe and dozens of his associates nearly 10 years ago after a violent re-election campaign and at the start of sometimes violent seizures of white-owned commercial farms for black resettlement.
On Sunday, Mugabe accused his Western foes of not recognising Zimbabwe as an independent state of native black citizens with rights over its land and natural resources.
"We say to hell, to hell, hell with them," he said. "Sanctions must go, and they must go. They are hurting our people regardless of political affiliation."
In the blistering attack, Mugabe said the West was using sanctions as part of a plot to impose its political will on the southern African nation.
Mugabe, 86, was forced into a power-sharing pact with his rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, more than a year ago after a crisis over a 2008 national election that local and foreign observers say was marred by violence and vote-rigging.
Although the unity government has stabilised the economy and Zimbabwe registered its first growth in a decade last year, it has been struggling to attract foreign aid and investment because of Mugabe's policies.
On Tuesday, aid agencies led by the United Nations increased their appeal for assistance to Zimbabwe from an initial $378 million to $478 million, saying the country's humanitarian situation remains fragile.
Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, has said his policies are meant to correct colonial injustices. (Additional reporting by Nelson Banya; Editing by Jon Herskovitz and Peter Graff) (For more Africa cover visit: af.reuters.com -- To comment on this story email: SouthAfrica.Newsroom@reuters.com)
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