Zimbabwe's government has accused former colonial ruler Britain of using a cholera epidemic to rally Western support for an invasion of the collapsing southern African nation, a state-run newspaper said on Sunday. | The Brits can't defend the Falklands. How are they going to invade Zimbabwe? |
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday the veteran leader's departure from office was long overdue. "I don't know what this mad prime minister (Brown) is talking about. He is asking for an invasion of Zimbabwe ... but he will come unstuck," Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba told the state-controlled Sunday Mail. The growing Western criticism signalled a plot to oust Mugabe's government militarily, Charamba said.
The government often blames Britain and other Western nations for Zimbabwe's economic meltdown, saying that targeted sanctions against Mugabe and his inner circle have sabotaged the economy. African nations are also growing more uncomfortable with Mugabe, though they still view the 84-year-old as a hero of Africa's liberation era. Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Botswanan Foreign Minister Phandu Skelemani have called for his removal, as has South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel laureate.
Archbishop of York John Sentanu agreed but went further, writing in the Observer weekly that "Mugabe and his henchmen" should face trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. "The time to remove them from power has come." Douglas Alexander, Britain's international development secretary, said on Sunday it was important that Africans led the opposition to Mugabe's government. "Now is the time for Africa to stand up and be counted. The old bonds of the liberation struggle must give way to the common bond of humanity," he said in a statement.
Zimbabwe is on the verge of collapse. Food stocks are running out, unemployment is above 80 percent and prices double every 24 hours. The health system is in tatters, unable to treat many of those infected with cholera. The epidemic has forced Zimbabwe to declare a national emergency and appeal for foreign help. Britain is among European nations that have promised aid.
South Africa, Zimbabwe's richest neighbour, has also pledged aid and officials will assess the scale of the crisis on Monday. The European Union is considering imposing new sanctions against Zimbabwe next week unless progress is made in breaking the deadlock between Mugabe and the opposition MDC over how to implement a power-sharing deal.
Sanctions: Mugabe and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai agreed on September 15 to form a unity government, but are in dispute over control of key ministries. Charamba said Western sanctions, which Harare says are punishment for its seizure of white-owned farms, have made it harder to deal with health crises like the cholera outbreak.