'Current Africa leaders lack principles,' says Mugabe

President Robert Mugabe says the current crop of African leaders has not done much to further the interests of the continent as some of them have even regressed.

Addressing 38 African diplomats accredited to Tokyo, President Mugabe said much of the achievements made by Africa's founding fathers are being eroded by a leadership that is being dictated to by outside forces.

He chronicled the history of African solidarity in its quest to assert itself on the global stage.

"Poor African states contributed immensely to the independence of the continent. Some leaders accuse me of belonging to the old, the old generation meaning people like Julius Nyerere, Kwame Nkrumah and Sekou Toure. Yes I accept, and we had one goal that is to see the total independence of the continent," said Cde Mugabe

He said the Look East Policy began in the 1960s as Africa was assisted heavily by China, North Korea, the non-aligned countries and the Soviet Union to remove the yoke of colonialism.

At that time, he said, Japan was on a reconstruction exercise after the atomic bombing by the west.  

President Mugabe added that it was a difficult road to independence and the roadmap to economic takeoff has been made with clear road markings in the African Union Vision 2063.

He said when Africans meet for the 6th Tokyo International Conference of African Development (TICAD) in Nairobi, Kenya in August, they should be united so as to partner Japan in order to develop.

President Mugabe is in Japan on a five day official visit at the invitation of the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Shinzo Abe.