Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday expressed his gratitude to European Union and fellow African leaders for enabling him to see off a bid to have him excluded from an EU-Africa summit.
”The sinister campaign led by Britain to isolate us, including the recent attempts to bar us from attending the EU-Africa summit, soon to be hosted by Portugal, continues to disintegrate,” Mugabe said in a State of the Nation address in Parliament.
”I wish to thank the EU and African countries for their support, and the Portuguese government for their correct reading of the situation.
”The principled rejection by the EU-Africa countries of attempts by Britain to internationalise what clearly are bilateral differences between us vindicates our position that problems between us and our former colonisers, being bilateral, should therefore be addressed bilaterally.”
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he will not attend the Lisbon summit on December 8 and 9 after Mugabe indicated he would be present at the meeting.
Relations between Zimbabwe and Britain were strained after Mugabe’s government launched controversial land reforms seizing farmland from white farmers, the majority of them of British descent, for redistribution to landless black Zimbabweans.
Mugabe commended the ongoing talks between his ruling Zanu-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), saying the dialogue had ”ushered in the dawn of a new era of constructive engagement across the political divide”.
He warned against violence in the run-up to joint polls early next year and said he would not accept foreign interference.
”Those of our people who wish to go about campaigning should do so in an atmosphere of peace and shun activities that may leave behind a bitter aftertaste, he said.
”The government has at its disposal the means to deal firmly with anyone seeking to engage in acts of violence.
”… Let the message ring clearly to our detractors that as a sovereign nation we will not brook any interference in our domestic affairs.” — AFP
