Zimbabwe

"Go hang," Zimbabwe tells the West

Article published on the 2008-07-01 Latest update 2008-07-02 09:46 TU

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe listens to speeches at the African Union summit
(Credit: Reuters)

Zimbabwe has told the West to "go hang" amid growing criticism of President Robert Mugabe's widely discredited re-election which has seen Washington push for sanctions on Zimbabwe. The comments came as French officials said Europe was also considering sanctions on the southern African country.

The French foreign ministry said these could include visa bans on President Mugabe's circle and asset freezes.

George Charamba, spokesman for Zimbabwe's foreign ministry, responded to Western criticism of his country's recent election run-off. "They can go and hang a thousand times (...) they have no claim on Zimbabwean politics", he said.

 

He was speaking at Sharm el-Sheik in Egypt today on the closing day of the African Union summit. Mugabe has not objected to an AU resolution that called for a power-sharing deal between his Zanu-PF party and the Democratic Movement for Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

The second-in-command of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, Tendati Biti, said that the one-candidate election had signaled the end of any possible talks with the ruling Zanu-PF.

Britain's junior foreign office minister, Mark Malloch-Brown said that President Mugabe could not be a part of any future government, although involvement with the Zanu-PF could be envisaged.