Zimbabwe's Mugabe fears Nato attack

President Robert Mugabe says he fears being targeted by Western countries the same way Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was ousted by Nato-backed fighters.

Mugabe recently told an annual party conference in Bulawayo yesterday that Zimbabwe's rich mineral resources made him a target.

Gaddafi, one of Africa's longest serving dictators, was in October captured and killed by anti-government fighters who are now in charge of the oil-rich country.

Mugabe has been in power since the country attained independence in 1980, and yesterday appeared to show discomfort with the West.

Mugabe said he was conscious of the fact that Western countries that dethroned Gaddafi were opposed to his rule hence the need for vigilance.

"When Nato bombed Libya, they found countries in the African continent weak and very much not united.

"We undermined ourselves as Africans. Today, in Libya, we have a broken people, whose lives, hopes and dreams have been shattered by Nato forces. In Zimbabwe, as Zanu PF, a party born out of a revolution, we have to be alive to the fact that there is no way we can expect to be excluded from the possibility of what happened to Gaddafi happening Mugabe fears Nato attack to us," said Mugabe in a two and a half hour speech.

"That is why we have to ensure that we strengthen our ties with our regional allies, that is countries such as South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia, and others. These are the comrades that assisted us attain our independence and they stand ready to help us in case that which happened to our good friend Gaddafi happens to us."

Mugabe claimed minerals such as gold, diamonds, coal, and chrome were likely to "tempt" Western countries to invade Zimbabwe.

"If they ended Gaddafi's rule, a man who had oil at his disposal, what can stop them (the international community) from doing it to us. A country such as Zimbabwe is in danger of being taken over by these colonialists who are out to get resources of other countries to boost their economies," Mugabe said.

"Well before the war in Libya, Britain and France were already positioning themselves to exploit the Libyan oil, reminding us of what they did during the [1884] Berlin Conference that saw the partitioning of Africa. The Libyan issue clearly shows that other countries which have resources like our own, which has diamonds, are on target."

"Imperialists are not good people at all," Mugabe said.

"That is why someone said only a dead imperialist is a good one. They lied to Gaddafi that they were his friends. They made him blind to the fact that he was supposed to establish allies in African countries," he said.