Comes as a surprise, huh? Who'da thunkit?
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe will stay in office as long as his people want him to, but he does not plan to run for re-election in 2008, he said in a television interview broadcast Monday. Mugabe also lashed out at President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for the war in Iraq, telling Sky News TV "they deceived the world with lies" about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and now "the chickens have come back to roost." He also called South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a critic of Zimbabwe's human rights record, "angry" and "evil."
Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe as a tyrant and lout since it achieved freedom from Britain in 1980, appeared to dismiss the need for talks with his country's opposition movement, which disputes his victory in the March 2002 election. Opposition leaders and independent observers maintain Mugabe used intimidation and vote-rigging to win the poll and continue his authoritarian rule. When asked how long he intended to remain in office, Mugabe said, "For as long as the people want me to stay, but not for eternity, of course."
In the interview, Mugabe stood by his government's forecast for a bountiful harvest this year that will be more than enough to feed his people.
| And I forecast that I'm going to win this week's Powerball lottery. |
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