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Mugabe marks 25 years of independence
 President Robert Mugabe on Monday marked 25 years of independence by telling the West to mind their own elections and leave Zimbabwe alone. "Our elections have not needed Anglo-American validation. They are validated by fellow Africans, and friendly countries from the Third World," Mugabe told thousands gathered at a sports stadium for the independence celebrations. "That is where we get justice, not from Europe neither indeed from America." "We never agitate to observe their elections and therefore let them keep away from our affairs," Mugabe said. Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party won victory in elections last month that the opposition said was rigged while the United States, Britain and other western governments declared that the parliamentary vote was neither free nor fair. Mugabe, who has been in power since independence 25 years ago, also defended his land reform program launched five years ago that saw some 4,000 commercial farms seized and handed over to landless blacks.Posted by: Fred 2005-04-19 |
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