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| Africa Subsaharan | |
| Zimbabwe police chief warns against rule by 'puppets' | |
| 2008-03-14 | |
| HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe's police commissioner has warned his force would not allow "puppets" to rule the country following general elections scheduled for March 29. "We will not allow any puppets to take charge," Augustine Chihuri was quoted as saying in the state-owned Herald newspaper on Friday. President Robert Mugabe, 84, seeking a sixth term at the helm of the country, has often referred to his challengers in presidential elections as puppets of the West. "This time we are wiser and we are determined and this must serve as a warning to puppets," Chihuri was quoted as telling a police contingent leaving for a United Nations peacekeeping mission in Liberia. "Most of us here are truly owners of the land. This is the sovereignty we should defend at all costs, because for us to get at this point, others had to lose their lives. At this point our gains should never be reversed." The commissioner of prison services, retired major-general Paradzai Zimondi, vowed last month not to accept anyone other than Mugabe as head of state, as he instructed prison staff to vote for the veteran leader. Zimondi said he would not salute presidential aspirants Morgan Tsvangirai or former finance minister Simba Makoni should either of them emerge victorious from this month's joint presidential and legislative polls.
Both Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change and Makoni, Mugabe's former finance minister, have pledged to review Mugabe's oft-criticised land reform policy, which saw white-owned farms seized for distribution to landless blacks and government cronies. "It is unfortunate when people are saying it's not illegal sanctions causing all these problems but misrule," said the police chief. "The illegal sanctions, which Britain imposed on Zimbabwe were the major cause of the problems troubling the country." In the run-up to 2002 presidential elections, widely condemned as rigged, Zimbabwean defence chiefs declared they would not support a president who did not participate in the 1970s war of liberation, as Mugabe did. | |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #5 he'll turn in a second if the funds stop...and they will |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-03-14 18:21 |
| #4 Re: #1: He said Puppets, not Muppets! |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2008-03-14 15:39 |
| #3 Watch Mugabe's loyalty evaporate if he shows signs of weakness. Of course his toadies and lickspittles will remain loyal, but they will be buried with him. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2008-03-14 14:22 |
| #2 "It is unfortunate when people are saying it's not illegal sanctions causing all these problems but misrule," said the police chief. Castro Lite. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-03-14 12:16 |
| #1 Already going on big buddy. SnuffleUppagus - Dept. of Agriculture The Count - Dept. of Commerce Skeksis - bob's brown shirts Doozers - well, they were chased out of town because of fraggle dreams. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2008-03-14 11:19 |