Malaysia’s government remained tightlipped on Tuesday over reports that it had offered asylum to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe if he reliquishes power.
”There is no statement,” a foreign ministry official told AFP.
Reports from the Zimbabwean capital Harare over the weekend suggested that senior members of the ruling party and the opposition were collaborating on a plan under which Mugabe would stand down for a government of national unity.
He would be offered immunity from prosecution for human rights abuses and the chance to go into exile, and the Malaysian government had tentatively agreed to offer him asylum, the reports said.
Mugabe and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad have been friends for years, both having come to power more than 20 years ago.
They share a love of anti-Western rhetoric in defence of the developing world, but while Mahathir has steered his country from the economic backwaters to the mainstream of Asian development, Zimbabwe’s economy is in the worst crisis of its history.
Mahathir has declared his intention of stepping down as prime minister in October this year, while Mugabe won re-election as president last year in a poll widely regarded as fraudulent.
Zimbabwe’s ruling party has dismissed the reports of Mugabe’s planned exile as ”wishful thinking and mischief”. – Sapa-AFP