 | "Is that a promise?" ask Western ambassadors. |
(SomaliNet) President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwean has threatened to "kick out" Western ambassadors from Harare, and called British Prime Minister Tony Blair a "dictator" coordinating sanctions against his country.
"If America wants a man like Christopher Dell [United States ambassador to Harare] to remain here, then he's got to behave because we will not brook further nonsense from him," he told the London-based monthly New African magazine.
| Dell should read him the riot act and then pack his bags ... |
"We have read them the riot act," he said, referring to Western ambassadors accused of interfering in Harare. "If they continue to do that, we will certainly kick them out of the country. It doesn't matter who it is."
| Kick them all out. See what happens then ... |
In a wide-ranging magazine interview, he also defended the recent beating of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, saying "these things happen" and warning that others will meet the same fate if they provoke the police.
The Zimbabwean leader rounded on critics who describe Zimbabwe as a "dictatorship" -- and pointed the finger at Blair for reneging on a deal to provide compensation for land reform after the country's independence in 1980. "He is very much more of a dictator than any dictator I have read about in modern times in Britain and in Europe," he told the magazine.
| He's more and more like a bad comic book villian. I'm guessing a monomanical laugh followed ... |
Specifically he accused Blair of persuading his European allies, and countries further afield including in Asia, to join in seeking to isolate Zimbabwe. "They interfere with even our friends in the East and try to persuade them to reduce their relations with us," he said, lamenting that sanctions "have wreaked quite some havoc on our economy".
| Gee, Bob, thought you and cronies did that all on your own ... |
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