'Barack Obama a curse,' says Mugabe

US President Barack Obama retires from office with an African curse as the continent expected a lot from his election but he disappointed, President Mugabe said yesterday.

Addressing the 6th Zanu-PF National People's Congress in Harare attended by thousands of people, President Mugabe who is the Sadc chair and AU deputy chair, lashed out at Obama whose term of office has generated wars and illegal regime change in Africa.

President Mugabe said a small group of countries led by the US and Britain opposed the normalisation of relations between Harare and Europe.

Europe and the US imposed illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe after the country embarked on the land reform programme to address historical land ownership imbalances.

"In the case of the United Kingdom, this has something to do with their pending elections. Zimbabwe's fate must wait while the sons of Albion choose a new government! What rank madness! As for the Unites States of America, we honestly don't know what grievance she holds against us," said President Mugabe.

"I doubt if Barack Obama understands that grievance, whatever it is. I suppose in his case it has a lot to do with his being a black President in White House, a virtual prisoner enjoined to pander to and dutifully mind white interests. He retires from office with an African curse, this man from whom so much was expected by our continent. But we know better that nothing much should be expected from him."

President Mugabe said the West had tried everything short of war to effect regime change in Zimbabwe.

"They created well-heeled opposition against us. That opposition has now fallen. They sought and still seek to divide us. That, too, has failed. They attacked our economy, attacked our currency. We've conceived strategies which have exposed to them the futility of those spiteful measures. They sought to isolate us, even mobilising multilateral institutions against us, even blocking trade between us and other nations. Today they even hold our earnings which they have impounded, buccaneer style. Is there international law anymore, we ask. But we've remained unflinching, undaunted. Now Europe seeks peace with us, seeks to re-establish friendship with us," he said.

President Mugabe said Zimbabwe has always sought friendship with all nations.

"As before, we tell Europe we've been more sinned against than sinning. We've always sought amity and friendship with all nations, great or small, black or white, brown or yellow. We've not even sought to hit back at Britain, much as it has assets here. Well, let them come if they now want friendship. But it has to be on terms that recognise our sovereign right to exist as an independent African nation enjoying equal status accorded to all nations under the UN Charter," he said.