Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe on Monday swore in a reshuffled cabinet, state media reported, calling it a ”war council” to fight the country’s political and economic problems.
”President Robert Mugabe described the new cabinet as a fully fledged war council set to fight the country’s economic problems,” state television and radio said.
”He also described the cabinet as a political war cabinet, which will take into account actions being done by Britain and its allies against Zimbabwe,” the reports added.
”The program from now on is for government to be as practical and as much on the ground as possible, and it is our view in the presidency that what we need now is a cabinet of ministers who will always be on their feet,” Mugabe was quoted in the reports as saying.
Journalists from some private media, including a photographer from the Daily News newspaper, said they were not allowed to cover the event.
The new cabinet, announced on Sunday, retained most of the loyal stalwarts who have presided over the southern African nation’s controversial land redistribution programme and a crackdown on the opposition.
Only Finance Minister Simba Makoni, seen by many as one of the more moderate members of the cabinet, and the ailing white member of Mugabe’s cabinet, Health Minister Timothy Stamps, were dropped.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe has this month barred 30 foreigners from entering the country but denied the restrictions were in retaliation for a travel ban on the country’s officials.
Those barred included six US nationals, three from Britain, five from the Netherlands, one from Belgium, one from France and one from Australia, the official Herald newspaper said on Monday.
An immigration official told the paper the barring of the foreign nationals, some of whom were nationals of African countries, was because they did not hold the correct travel documents.
Last month the EU broadened the scope of a list of ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) officials it intends to bar from visiting its member states, accusing President Robert Mugabe’s government of human rights abuses.
The United States has also imposed travel restrictions on Zimbabwe officials.
”We are not retaliating against any nation because we don’t have the power to do so,” chief immigration officer Elasto Mugwadi told the Herald.
”We don’t have such instructions (from the government) at the moment save for barring journalists from certain hostile countries as well as other foreign nationals barred on security grounds,” Mugwadi added.
Such people were on a ”watch list” compiled in conjunction with various government departments, he told the paper. – Sapa-AFP