The president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, recently found ground glass in his food: possibly an attempt to kill him.
He told state television during a special birthday interview that a presidential cook had been questioned about the incident.
In the past, Mugabe has accused western leaders of seeking to topple him, but he did not blame this latest incident on the west.
”I do not think it was anything to do with western imperialism. Western imperialism is much more thorough than that,” he said.
”I think it was just some internal thing. Perhaps the cook was not happy.”
He suggested that the cook might have been bewitched. The police declined to comment on the incident.
But the 80-year-old president’s health became the subject of further speculation yesterday when state broadcasters announced that he would not attend a state funeral because of ”chest pains” after visiting a tobacco farm in the Bindura area.
This is the first time the state media has admitted that he has any health problems.
Last month he made a mysterious 48-hour visit to South Africa. A government spokesperson vehemently denied that he had sought medical treatment.
Despite his health problems, Mugabe said he intended to serve his current six-year presidential term, which does not expire until 2008.
”I have not been in the habit of surrendering at all,” he said. ”In five years, I will be here, still boxing, writing a lot, reading quite a lot, and still in politics.”
Last week Mugabe issued a decree authorising the government to hold its opponents in jail for up to a month before being take to court.
Previously anyone arrested had to be brought to court within 48 hours. The new measure was unconstitutional and amounted to ”a silent declaration of a state of emergency”, an opposition MP, David Coltart, said.
”These regulations are nothing less than a trojan horse which effectively usher in provisions that give the regime state of emergency powers,” said Coltart, who is the Movement for Democratic Change’s secretary for legal affairs.
Most of the MDC leadership was arrested last year but no one has been brought to trial except the party leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, who is standing trial for treason. He may be hanged if found guilty.
Tsvangirai denies the charges and legal experts say the case against him is so weak that it would have been thrown out by any independent court.
Out on bail, he was reported to have been attacked by government supporters yesterday while travelling outside Harare. No further details were available.
Mugabe’s 80th birthday celebrations came as Zimbabwe’s political and economic crisis continued to deepen. Nearly two-thirds of the 12-million people need international food aid, according to United Nations agencies.
Inflation has reached 622% and unemployment, already estimated at 70%, continues to grow. This month the state closed the most popular newspaper and jailed leading independent journalists for two days before preferring charges which legal expert dismiss as spurious. – Guardian Unlimited Â