Johannesburg, S. Africa
19 December 2008
President Robert Mugabe said Friday that "Zimbabwe is mine" and vowed
never to surrender, saying no African nation is brave enough to topple
him. Mr. Mugabe's statement comes as
Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change
party, said he will advise his party's national council to withdraw
from any talks about an inclusive government, unless all abducted party
members and civil rights activists are released or charged by January
1.
Mr. Mugabe was addressing thousands of ZANU-PF officials
and members at the party's annual conference when he vowed not to let
go of power in Zimbabwe.
Maintaining Britain is trying to
recolonize Zimbabwe, Mr. Mugabe said he has sent a letter to Mr.
Tsvangirai inviting him to be sworn in as prime minister in an
inclusive government.
From Botswana, where Mr. Tsvangirai
has been in exile for the last six weeks, the MDC leader said the
situation in Zimbabwe, particularly from the humanitarian perspective,
is worse than at anytime in Zimbabwe's history.
Mr. Tsvangirai
said that more than 42 members of his opposition party and civil
society have been abducted in the past two months. They include two
journalists and their whereabouts remain unknown. He said that the MDC
can no longer sit at the same negotiating table with a party that is
abducting our members and other innocent civilians and refusing to
produce any of them before a court of law.
He said he had
signed a political agreement with Mr. Mugabe in September to form an
inclusive government, but this would only be possible if there were two
willing partners. He said Mr. Mugabe was unwilling to put the welfare
of Zimbabwe and its people first.
He called upon the Southern
African development Community and the African Union to ensure
conditions are met to alleviate the suffering of Zimbabwe's people in
the shortest possible time.
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| U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer (file photo) |
Jendayi Frazer, U.S. assistant
secretary of state for African affairs, said Thursday that "there is a
complete collapse right now" in Zimbabwe, and said that Mr. Mugabe
needs to step down.
Most neighboring countries including
regional giant South Africa are opposed to military intervention in
Zimbabwe, where more than 1,100 people have died from cholera and the
United Nations nearly half the population needs emergency food aid.
Mr. Mugabe on Friday questioned which African countries "would have the courage" to order a military intervention.
Mr.
Tsvangirai beat Mr. Mugabe in March presidential elections at which his
party also ended the 28-year domination of parliament by Mugabe's
party. But officials results said Mr. Tsvangirai did not win outright,
and he withdrew from a runoff because of state-sponsored violence.
To
break the impasse over the presidential votes, Mr. Mugabe and Mr.
Tsvangirai agreed to form a unity government three months ago but have
been deadlocked since over how to share Cabinet posts.