FORMER Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano likened President Robert Mugabe to a “mad dog” looking for a dignified exit from power, leaked US diplomatic cables reveal.

Speaking in January 2009, Chissano said 87-year-old Mugabe, in power since 1980, needed a “face-saving exit strategy in order to feel as though he could leave peacefully”.

“Chissano likened the situation to leaving an open door in a straw hut for a mad dog that, when kicked, would most likely run out, whereas if the door were closed, the dog would probably turn and bite,” wrote Todd Chapman, the Charge D’Affaires at the US embassy in Maputo after a meeting with the former President.

Chapman said Chissano’s “body language and especially direct words conveyed frustration on Zimbabwe, and together with the thinly-veiled comparison of Mugabe to a mad dog might suggest that even some of the old comrades from the independence struggles have grown weary of the problems next door.”

But in the same interview, the former President who was the best man at Mugabe's wedding to Grace Marufu in 1996, is said to have been critical of South African cleric Archbishop Desmond Tutu's constant attacks on Mugabe, saying "it wasn't the role of a man of the church to speak out against the government of Zimbabwe in such a way that could incite violence".

The discussion with Chissano, a former regional ally of Mugabe, came just days before a unity government was formed to end a year-long political impasse caused by disputed elections. Mugabe stayed on as President with coalition partners Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara becoming Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister respectively.