Mugabe barred from Ivory Coast

President Robert Mugabe said that African leaders have refused to recognize his leadership on regional bodies at the prodding of the French government.

Mugabe told the central committee of the ruling Zanu-PF party on Friday that he's been snubbed by regional leaders while serving as rotating chairman of the African Union and the Southern African Development Community. In Ivory Coast, a former French colony, President Alassane Ouattara blocked Mugabe from entering the country after his plane landed at the airport, Mugabe said, without giving more details.

"The French are saying that Mugabe is a dangerous man and don't work with him," he said in the capital, Harare. Britain is also trying to exert the same influence, he said.

The 91-year-old leader has ruled Zimbabwe since the nation won independence from Britain in 1980. Mugabe was re-elected in 2013 in polling the opposition described as fraudulent.