Mugabe says 'Zimbabwe will not collapse'

Mugabe says 'Zimbabwe will not collapse'

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ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe said on Thursday that the country would soon boost agricultural production to survive what he said was a plot by "Western destructive forces" to bring about its collapse.

Speaking as his government launched a $6 million bio-diesel refinery built as a joint venture with a South Korean firm just outside of Harare, Mugabe said his land reforms -- blamed for Zimbabwe's economic crisis -- would soon begin to bear fruit.

"Zimbabwe was never there to collapse and shall never be there to collapse," he said.

Mugabe's critics say his controversial policy of seizing white-owned farms to resettle landless blacks with little farming experience has brought the economy to its knees.

Zimbabwe suffers from the world's highest inflation rates and chronic food, fuel and foreign currency shortages.

Mugabe, 83, accuses Western powers, mainly Britain and the United States, of sabotaging the economy to undermine his administration. He faces few political challenges at home.

Analysts say the country's economic woes pose the biggest threat to his rule but the veteran leader vowed Zimbabwe would never crumble under their weight and scoffed at international sanctions against his government.

"We have once again demonstrated that the ill-fated illegal sanctions against the innocent people of Zimbabwe can never subdue our resilience and inner propulsion to succeed and remain standing as a nation," he said.

The fuel plant, with a capacity to produce 100 million litres of diesel annually, should mainly provide fuel to farmers resettled under the land grabs.

Official statistics say the farming sector requires almost 120 million litres of diesel annually, while the country's total diesel demand is estimated at about 1 billion litres.

"Once wholly customised, this plant will, at full capacity, yield a production level of 100 million litres of diesel per year, meeting virtually all the agricultural sector's diesel requirements," Mugabe said.

"As government, we are also working tirelessly to ensure that this coming agricultural season marks a lasting turning point in the country's economic fortunes."

The southern African country, once one of Africa's most promising economies, suffers from the world's highest inflation rate and food, fuel and foreign currency shortages. - Reuters

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