Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe claimed that his country had ”defeated the British” after he attended an Europe Union-Africa summit in Lisbon at the weekend, state media reported on Tuesday.
The veteran leader said Zimbabwe had scored a diplomatic victory over Britain and its Western allies at the summit where Mugabe’s presence took center stage last week.
”We defeated the British, we were the victors over the British,” the state-run Herald quoted Mugabe as saying upon his arrival back in the country.
”What is Britain after all? They think the empire still runs. There is no empire to talk about.”
Mugabe managed to attend the summit after securing backing from some European Union countries and fellow African leaders.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown boycotted the meeting over Mugabe’s presence, but Mugabe said Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands and Sweden, whom he termed ”a gang of four”, had acted on his behalf.
Relations between Harare and London have been strained since Mugabe’s government launched controversial reforms seizing land from white farmers, the majority of them of British descent, for redistribution to landless blacks.
Mugabe told his supporters that journalists at the Lisbon summit had shown an amazing interest in him and his country, adding that the media frenzy was as a result of support he enjoyed at home.
”The summit was discussing cooperation between Africa and Europe so that we help each other develop our countries,” he said.
”It was not a meeting to discuss Zimbabwe, but you just heard ‘Mugabe, Mugabe, Mugabe’ and I said this is not my meeting, but it’s for Africa and the EU.”
Mugabe also commended the host country Portugal for inviting the whole of Africa, including Zimbabwe, to the two-day summit.
He said Portugal treated African countries as equals despite being a former colonial power. – AFP
