Mugabe rescinds Annan invitation

Mugabe rescinds Annan invitation

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By Staff Reporter

ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe has withdrawn his invitation for Koffi Annan to visit Zimbabwe following a damning United Nations report on the government's widely condemned urban "clean up" operation which left close to a million people homeless.

South African media, quoting "senior UN sources" reported Monday that Mugabe had rescinded the invitation "at this time" and sent a message he would catch up with Annan at this week's General Assembly in New York.

UN envoy Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka spent two weeks in Zimbabwe in June and issued a report condemning Mugabe's "Operation Drive out the filth" when opposition supporters' houses were bulldozed.

Mugabe invited Annan to Zimbabwe to explain the plan to build houses for those it made homeless, but Annan was yet to accept the offer.

In an interview with an Israeli journalist aired on Britain's Channel 5 on Monday night, Mugabe claimed Kajumulo Tibaijuka had been influenced by Britain, and specifically Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Mugabe said he held two meetings with Kajumulo Tibaijuka and was left with the impression that the report was "pre-determined".

"She told me she wasn't working alone and it would be difficult...Tony Blair had said he would take the report to the UN before the mission, so he knew what would be in the report," the 81-year-old leader claimed.

Mugabe also revealed he was not going back on a promise to retire when his current term expires in 2008.

Mugabe said he would remain "in the background...in the party" after his retirement.

He also said in the same intterview that his Zanu PF party would choose his successor.
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