Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Friday told hundreds of young supporters of his ruling party that the parliamentary elections due next year would be a ”fight” against British Prime Minister Tony Blair, state television reported.
”We are fighting Blair. It is an anti-Blair election and we must win it and demonstrate to him that Zimbabwe shall never be a colony,” Mugabe told a conference in Harare of the youth wing of his Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF).
Zimbabwe was a British colony between 1923 and 1980.
”They (Britain) have been making threats against us,” Mugabe said to applause.
”Let them come. We have said, sure, some people will die. But they can never conquer us. Never.”
The ruling party was angered recently when Blair told the British Parliament his government was ”working closely” with Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Last week the Zimbabwean Parliament, which is dominated by Zanu-PF MPs, approved a motion to investigate the MDC’s alleged ”treasonous” links to Britain.
The opposition denies the charges.
Friday’s conference was held at the University of Zimbabwe and reportedly attended by 2 500 ruling party supporters from around the country.
The party’s deputy youth secretary, MP Saviour Kasukuwere, earlier told state radio the youth wing was already preparing for next year’s parliamentary elections.
”We want to be ready and to make sure that once and for all we lay this MDC ghost to rest,” he said. – Sapa-AFP