Mugabe Declares No African Country Can Topple Him

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has said that no African nation is brave enough to force him out of power. Speaking Friday at an annual ruling party convention in Bindura, 90 KM northeast of Harare, a defiant Mugabe declared Zimbabwe was his and that no external intervention would remove him from power. Mugabe has intransigently refused to honour a September Accord to share power with the opposition, and Zimbabweans are currently besieged by political turbulence, hyperinflation and a dire cholera outbreak that has killed over 1,111 people. US President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have called for Mugabe to quit. In Africa, only Botswana’s President Ian Khama, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga have made clear calls for Mugabe to step down.[PE]