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Mugabe rants at US, Britain over sanctions
26 Sep 2013 at 16:07hrs | Views
President Robert Mugabe has slammed the United States, Britain and their allies for maintaining sanctions on Zimbabwe.
Addressing world leaders at the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Mugabe said these western nations are always pre-occupied with dominating weaker nations and dictating their politics.
"Shame, shame we say on you the United States, shame, shame on you Britain and all those countries that continue with sanctions on Zimbabwe," said Mugabe.
The United States representatives could not stomach President Mugabe's attack on their bullying tendencies, as they walked out of the General Assembly during his address.
Despite all this, Mugabe continued, telling the General Assembly that Zimbabwe refuses that the West, which has imposed sanctions on the country, defines what democracy and freedom means, particularly for Zimbabwe which paid the ultimate price for its independence through the protracted liberation struggle.
He said the West preaches daily on the virtues of democracy and freedom, which they totally disregard and have imposed illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe in a failed bid to effect regime change, after the country had undertaken the land reform programme.
"The relentless persecution of the small nation of Zimbabwe has happened again through Washington's recent rejection of the democratic elections, even though they were applauded by all regional blocs on the African continent," he said.
President Mugabe said: "Zimbabwe strongly condemns the use of unilateral economic sanctions as a foreign policy tool to effect regime change."
He said the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe are proof that the United States and the European Union violate the fundamental principles of the UN Charter on state sovereignty and non-interference in domestic affairs of sovereign states.
He said the sanctions also continue to inflict economic deprivation and human suffering.
Mugabe also blasted the West's abuse of the UN Security Council and interference in the domestic affairs of weaker nations as evidenced by the West's invasion of Iraq, alleging that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
He said the same machinations were employed in deposing Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, but thanked Russia and China for thwarting latest attempts by America to invade Syria.
He said the reform of the UN Security Council is long overdue and asked when Africa will be allowed to express its own point of view on issues affecting its own leaders.
President Mugabe said the Security Council must be transparent, democratic and accessible to all nations, adding that Zimbabwe supports the proposal to strengthen the world body to be able to settle current and future global challenges.
He said Zimbabwe is confident that the reforms will strengthen the organisation's capacity to promote and implement objectives of the UN Charter and improve democratic decision making.
On millennium development goals (MDGs), President Mugabe said he is pleased that Zimbabwe has made significant strides in achieving most of the goals before the 2015 deadline.
He said areas of gender equality, universal access to primary education, the fight against malaria and HIV and AIDS, have remained a priority of the Zimbabwean government.
Addressing world leaders at the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Mugabe said these western nations are always pre-occupied with dominating weaker nations and dictating their politics.
"Shame, shame we say on you the United States, shame, shame on you Britain and all those countries that continue with sanctions on Zimbabwe," said Mugabe.
The United States representatives could not stomach President Mugabe's attack on their bullying tendencies, as they walked out of the General Assembly during his address.
Despite all this, Mugabe continued, telling the General Assembly that Zimbabwe refuses that the West, which has imposed sanctions on the country, defines what democracy and freedom means, particularly for Zimbabwe which paid the ultimate price for its independence through the protracted liberation struggle.
He said the West preaches daily on the virtues of democracy and freedom, which they totally disregard and have imposed illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe in a failed bid to effect regime change, after the country had undertaken the land reform programme.
"The relentless persecution of the small nation of Zimbabwe has happened again through Washington's recent rejection of the democratic elections, even though they were applauded by all regional blocs on the African continent," he said.
President Mugabe said: "Zimbabwe strongly condemns the use of unilateral economic sanctions as a foreign policy tool to effect regime change."
He said the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe are proof that the United States and the European Union violate the fundamental principles of the UN Charter on state sovereignty and non-interference in domestic affairs of sovereign states.
He said the sanctions also continue to inflict economic deprivation and human suffering.
Mugabe also blasted the West's abuse of the UN Security Council and interference in the domestic affairs of weaker nations as evidenced by the West's invasion of Iraq, alleging that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
He said the same machinations were employed in deposing Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, but thanked Russia and China for thwarting latest attempts by America to invade Syria.
He said the reform of the UN Security Council is long overdue and asked when Africa will be allowed to express its own point of view on issues affecting its own leaders.
President Mugabe said the Security Council must be transparent, democratic and accessible to all nations, adding that Zimbabwe supports the proposal to strengthen the world body to be able to settle current and future global challenges.
He said Zimbabwe is confident that the reforms will strengthen the organisation's capacity to promote and implement objectives of the UN Charter and improve democratic decision making.
On millennium development goals (MDGs), President Mugabe said he is pleased that Zimbabwe has made significant strides in achieving most of the goals before the 2015 deadline.
He said areas of gender equality, universal access to primary education, the fight against malaria and HIV and AIDS, have remained a priority of the Zimbabwean government.
Source - zbc
