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Mugabe defiant as war veterans march for Zimbabwe leader
By Godfrey Marawanyika
AFP
HARARE
Petroleumworld.com 08 30 07
Zimbabwe's embattled President Robert Mugabe told thousands of militant supporters Wednesday he would never be forced into exile and warned potential successors to stop jockeying for power.
After around 5,000 members of the Zimbabwe War Veterans' Association marched through Harare in support of their leader since independence in 1980, the 83-year-old Mugabe told the crowd he had not lost his appetite for power.
"They used to say they will give me an exit package ... (but) here I was born, here I grew up and here I will be buried," he said to rapturous applause.
"I am not going anywhere," he added.
There have been a number of reports in recent months that Mugabe could be persuaded to go into exile into either Namibia or Malaysia, if he were to receive guarantees he would escape any human rights charges.
Zimbabwe is in economic meltdown, with inflation now the highest in the world at more than 7,600 percent and unemployment at around 80 percent.
Already subject to targeted sanctions over charges he rigged his 2002 re-election, he has come in for a barrage of criticism from the West over a brutal crackdown on the opposition earlier this year.
Mugabe however said he would not be lectured by the old colonial power Britain, and took another swipe at its former prime minister Tony Blair who stood down in June.
"We have governed this country better than Blair governed. Right now young children are being killed, blacks discriminated against -- that's Britain," he said in reference to the recent murder of an 11-year-old boy in Liverpool.
He also struck another familiar theme by accusing some businesses of working with Britain to topple him. Mugabe's government recently forced all businesses and retailers to slash their prices, a move which led to widespread shortages.
"Let's be careful of those that want us to suffer and say Mugabe's government has failed to rule. Be careful, they are using various tactics," he said.
The War Veterans' Association said the march, which passed off peacefully, marked the start of a series of shows of strength on behalf of Mugabe.
"This is the beginning of marches in support of our president because he is operating under sanctions from the Western imperialists," Jabulani Sibanda, national chairman of the association, told AFP during the march.
Hundreds of residents and workers of the capital looked on keenly as the foot-stomping and dancing demonstrators passed past their offices and shops with long queues of people waiting to buy bread.
Many of the marchers carried banners with slogans such as" "Down with Western imperialists" and "Give Land to the People".
Mugabe has often used the so-called war veterans -- many of whom were born after 1980 -- to intimidate opponents and they were at the vanguard of farm occupations during his controversial land reform programme which began in 2000.
The opposition said the march was also intended as a signal to anyone within the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) who had designs on his job.
"It was was meant to intimidate Mugabe's fellow members within ZANU-PF," Nelson Chamisa, spokesman of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) told AFP. "It's all about succession."
Chamisa said the lax policing of the demonstration was a stark contrast with the security services' heavy-handed approach during opposition rallies.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and dozens of his supporters were assaulted by earlier this year as they tried to stage a prayer rally in a Harare township.
"Why do the police ban opposition marches and allow those of ZANU-PF only?" said Chamisa.
AFP 29 1655 GMT 08 07
Copyright© 2007 AFP. All rights reserved.
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