Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe bitterly attacked former colonial ruler Britain on Friday in his first major speech since disputed elections, saying London was paying the population to turn against him.
Mugabe, 84, told 15,000 cheering supporters in a fiery address to mark independence day: "Down with the British. Down with thieves who want to steal our country." In a stream of insults against Britain, Mugabe added: "Today they are like thieves fronting their lackeys among us, which they give money to confuse our people."
Mugabe, in power since independence in 1980, is under heavy international pressure over a delay in releasing results from the March 29 presidential election, which the opposition says was won by its leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
But Mugabe was characteristically defiant in his speech, repeating a familiar line that London and not the opposition Movement for Democratic Change was the real enemy. "Today they have perfected their tactics to a more subtle form by using money literally to buy some people to turn against their government. We are being bought like livestock," he said.
The delay in issuing the presidential result has provoked a chorus of criticism including from the United States and the ruling party in neighbouring South Africa. The MDC, which handed Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party its biggest defeat in a parallel parliamentary vote, accuses Mugabe of launching a campaign of militia violence to help him rig victory in an expected presidential runoff against Tsvangirai.
Mugabe said the government had intervened to stop independence war veterans from taking up arms against white farmers who were trying to reoccupy land which he has confiscated. "Zimbabwe will never be a colony again. Never shall we retreat," said Mugabe, wearing a dark suit and tie and speaking mostly in the local Shona language.
The Harare High Court on Friday dealt a new blow to the MDC, rejecting its bid to prevent a recount on Saturday of 23 out of 210 constituencies in the presidential and parliamentary election. The recount could overturn the MDC's parliamentary victory.
The former guerrilla commander received a rousing welcome from his supporters at Gwanzura stadium in Highfield, a restive opposition stronghold on the edge of the capital Harare. Many wore T-shirts decorated with Mugabe's portrait.
The carnival atmosphere in the stadium contrasted with the poverty outside where the collapse of Zimbabwe's economy and the world's worst hyper-inflation have forced residents to contend with shortages of water and food, and 80 percent unemployment. Mugabe's police and military paraded in the stadium before his speech and large posters denounced the opposition and Britain.
The British embassy in Harare issued a statement on Friday saying it was increasingly concerned "at reports of beatings and violence being unleashed against electoral officials and opposition supporters". It denied Mugabe's argument that Western sanctions caused the economic collapse, saying these were aimed only at the president and his entourage.
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