Mugabe claims 'successive victories' over Britain

Mugabe claims 'successive victories' over Britain

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By Cris Chinaka

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe marked independence day on Wednesday with new threats against opposition forces he accuses of trying to topple his government on behalf of Zimbabwe's former colonial master, Britain.

Addressing a rally to mark Zimbabwe's 27th independence anniversary, Mugabe said he would never cede power to opposition figures he has branded stooges of Western powers bent on undermining his black nationalist government.

"As government, our message remains clear that we will never hesitate to deal firmly with those elements who are bent on fomenting anarchy," he told some 30,000 cheering supporters at a Harare stadium.

A mounting economic and political crisis left many Zimbabweans in no mood for celebration on Wednesday, with many saying the country was in its worst shape ever.

But Mugabe -- who denies he is holding onto power through violence and vote rigging -- said people had reason celebrate "successive victories over British-sponsored negative forces, however organised."

Zimbabwe had resisted attempts to reverse the government's nationalist land and black empowerment policies through the opposition's British-sponsored "regime change agenda", he said.

Critics including major Western countries accuse Mugabe of using his nationalist credentials as a smokescreen to cover the country's slide into dictatorship.

Mugabe said he had no problem with a "legal, home-grown, peaceful and constructive political opposition," but said chief opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai -- who says he was cheated of victory in presidential polls in 2002 -- was a "pathetic puppet" of Britain and the United States.

"I swear by our forefathers, I will never concede power to such people," he said.

Mugabe's government last month launched a brutal crackdown on Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), accusing it of trying to overthrow it through a "terrorist campaign" of petrol bombings. The opposition denies the charge.

South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki has been appointed by the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) to broker talks between Mugabe and his opponents, but few are holding out hope of any immediate progress.

Instead, analysts expect the government to increase pressure ahead of 2008 elections, stepping up a campaign of beatings and intimidation of opposition figures which began last month.

Mugabe has been endorsed by Zanu PF to run again for president in the elections, and appeared to be using Wednesday's rally as a display of popular power.

The 83-year-old leader basked in the cheers of supporters of his ruling Zanu PF party as an airforce fly-by and military marches underscoring the might of his government.

"Our birthright, Our Sovereignty" read one placard waved at the rally, while others denounced Mugabe's Western critics and pledged to unswerving loyalty to the long-serving leader.

Critics accuse Mugabe, Zimbabwe's sole ruler since independence in 1980, of plunging the southern African state into crisis through policies such as the seizure of white-owned farms to resettle blacks.

But Mugabe says the disaster -- which has left Zimbabwe with the world's highest inflation and a rapidly shrinking economy -- is a result of economic sanctions imposed by the West. - Reuters

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