- Zimbabwe is ready to "shed blood" to defend
its land reforms, President Robert Mugabe told the world's leaders at the
Earth Summit in Johannesburg as he slammed British Prime Minister Tony
Blair.
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- Mugabe called on the summit to adopt a programme that
would allow Africans to enjoy sustainable development "not as puppets,
not as beggars but as sovereign people" and told Blair to "keep
your England and let me keep my Zimbabwe."
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- A sizeable number of delegates applauded enthusiastically
several times during Mugabe's speech.
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- "Opposition by Blair is artificial and a complete
interference in our sovereignty. We fought for the land and fought for
our sovereignty and we are prepared to shed our blood for their sustenance
and maintenance of that," he said Monday.
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- Mugabe is under mounting western criticism over his seizure
of white farmers' land for blacks when six million people -- about half
the population -- are facing the threat of starvation.
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- Britain has been at the forefront of EU and Commonwealth
sanctions -- including a travel ban on dozens of key officials -- aimed
at isolating Mugabe's government. It has said it might evacuate some 20,000
British citizens living in Zimbabwe if they were attacked.
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- Mugabe said criticisms of Zimbabwes land policy "really
is undeserved" as white farmers, many of whom were British nationals,
were not deprived of their land.
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- "Ownership must rest primarily with the black majority,
not with the obdurate and internationally well connected group of whites
farmers supported and manipulated by the Blair government," he said.
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- "We shall not deprive the white farmers of land.
They will have at least one farm but they want more -- 15, 20 and even
35 farms. No farmer is being left without land."
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- He said the international development paradigm must shift
away from the global, corporate pattern to a people-oriented system.
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- Mugabe also took a swipe at the International Monetary
Fund (IMF), saying it "never has been a fund for the poor" and
was used by rich industrialised countries to dominate the world.
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- Even the United Nations remained "unreformed"
and insensitive to the needs of the developing world, he said.
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- "We reject the manipulative and intimidatory countries
and regional blocs aimed at subordinating our sovereignty with false concepts
of the rule of law, democracy and good governance," he said.
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- Mugabe's regime has become increasingly isolated since
presidential elections in March, with sanctions imposed by the European
Union, the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland, who accuse
the Mugabe regime of vote fraud and political violence.
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