With no immediate indications of a breakthrough to end Zimbabwe’s political deadlock, President Robert Mugabe dismissed international demands for his ouster Tuesday, saying through a spokesman that Western countries threatening to bring economic or other pressure on his government could “go hang a thousand times.”| "Hell, no! I won't go!" |
George Charamba, the presidential spokesman, was speaking to reporters at a meeting of the leaders of the 53-nation African Union in this Red Sea resort. Facing pressure from the United States to expand sanctions against Mr. Mugabe, African leaders held a second day of closed-door meetings on Tuesday in the hope of reaching consensus on a negotiated settlement of the crisis.
But as the day unfolded, both Mr. Mugabe and his principle adversary, Morgan Tsvangirai, rejected outsiders’ talks of power-sharing or a coalition government modeled on Kenya, which had a devastating spasm of violence after its own disputed elections last December. “Kenya is Kenya; Zimbabwe is Zimbabwe,” Mr. Charamba said. “We have our own history of evolving dialogue and resolving political impasses the Zimbabwean way. The Zimbabwean way, not the Kenyan way. Not at all.”.