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Mugabe likens Bush and Blair to fascists
By John Reed in Johannesburg
Published: October 17 2005 17:40 | Last updated: October 17 2005 17:40
Robert Mugabe used a United Nations platform on Monday to compare George W. Bush and Tony Blair to Europe's fascist-era leaders.
Speaking in Rome at a 60th anniversary ceremony of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on Monday, the Zimbabwean president called the US and UK leaders “international terrorists†for launching the war in Iraq.
“Must we allow these men, the two unholy men of our millennium, who in the same way as Hitler and Mussolini formed their unholy alliance, formed an alliance to attack an innocent country?†news agencies quoted Mr Mugabe as saying. “We did not agree with Saddam Hussein, but we accorded to the people of Iraq their right to decide who should lead them.â€
Mr Mugabe was applauded after he spoke as the last of nine leaders to address the conference. The Venezuelan and Brazilian leaders also hit at US foreign policy.
Tony Hall, the US ambassador to the UN's food agencies, had earlier said he was “amazed†by the FAO's invitation to Mr Mugabe, “who has done so much to hurt his own peopleâ€. European Union sanctions in 2002 banned Mr Mugabe and other top Zimbabwean leaders from travelling to Europe but he is allowed to attend UN events.
In July the UN Security Council condemned Mr Mugabe's government for an urban-clearance programme that displaced some 700,000 people. However, the UN's Rome-based World Food Programme has had to tread delicately to maintain its programmes in Zimbabwe, where some 4m people face food shortages.
The Zimbabwean president defended his actions as “an empowerment programme redressing past gross imbalances in land ownershipâ.
Mugabe likens Bush and Blair to fascists
By John Reed in Johannesburg
Published: October 17 2005 17:40 | Last updated: October 17 2005 17:40
Robert Mugabe used a United Nations platform on Monday to compare George W. Bush and Tony Blair to Europe's fascist-era leaders.
Speaking in Rome at a 60th anniversary ceremony of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on Monday, the Zimbabwean president called the US and UK leaders “international terrorists†for launching the war in Iraq.
“Must we allow these men, the two unholy men of our millennium, who in the same way as Hitler and Mussolini formed their unholy alliance, formed an alliance to attack an innocent country?†news agencies quoted Mr Mugabe as saying. “We did not agree with Saddam Hussein, but we accorded to the people of Iraq their right to decide who should lead them.â€
Mr Mugabe was applauded after he spoke as the last of nine leaders to address the conference. The Venezuelan and Brazilian leaders also hit at US foreign policy.
Tony Hall, the US ambassador to the UN's food agencies, had earlier said he was “amazed†by the FAO's invitation to Mr Mugabe, “who has done so much to hurt his own peopleâ€. European Union sanctions in 2002 banned Mr Mugabe and other top Zimbabwean leaders from travelling to Europe but he is allowed to attend UN events.
In July the UN Security Council condemned Mr Mugabe's government for an urban-clearance programme that displaced some 700,000 people. However, the UN's Rome-based World Food Programme has had to tread delicately to maintain its programmes in Zimbabwe, where some 4m people face food shortages.
The Zimbabwean president defended his actions as “an empowerment programme redressing past gross imbalances in land ownershipâ.