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16 March 2008
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's police chief on Friday threw his support behind President Robert Mugabe in elections this month, declaring that western-supported "puppets" would not be allowed to rule.
Joining other defence chiefs in backing the 84-year-old Mugabe for re-election, Police commissioner-general Augustine Chihuri said: "We will not allow puppets to take charge. This time we are wiser and we are determined and this must serve as a warning to puppets."
His words, reported by state media, echoed those of Mugabe who says the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and, lately, former ally and expelled ZANU-PF politburo member Simba Makoni are stooges of Britain, the former colonial power.
The southern African country will hold presidential, parliamentary and council elections on March 29 amid economic and political turmoil that analysts say has weakened Mugabe's grip on power. Mugabe, who has led the country since independence from Britain in 1980 and who faces Makoni and long time opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the presidential vote, is digging in, promising a landslide win to silence his critics.
Chihuri blamed Zimbabwe's problems on sanctions by Western governments and not Mugabe's policies. "It is unfortunate when people are saying it's not the illegal sanctions causing all these problems, but misrule," he said. "The illegal sanctions, which Britain imposed on Zimbabwe, were the major cause of the problems troubling the country."
RECORD INFLATION
Last month the head of the prisons service, retired major general Paradzayi Zimondi ordered prison officers to vote for Mugabe, saying he would not salute Tsvangirai and Makoni. Analysts say an economic crisis marked by the highest inflation rate in the world, above 100,000 percent, surging unemployment and shortages of food, fuel and electricity presents the biggest challenge to Mugabe's rule.
Mugabe denies charges of plunging the once promising economy into turmoil, and routinely denounces the West for imposing sanctions to punish his government for seizing white-owned farms for blacks.Meanwhile, a top government official in neighbouring Mozambique said he expected a free and fair election in Zimbabwe, and urged other countries not to interfere with the process.
"We expect a free and a fair poll but we can't predict," Mozambique's Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Henrique Banze told Reuters in an interview. Critics say Mugabe has rigged elections since 2000 to cling to power -- charges he denies.
Banze dismissed concerns that the vote was unlikely to be free and fair, saying Zimbabwe's sovereignty should be respected and that no-one should judge Zimbabweans when they go to the polls. "On the base of sovereignty, no country is allowed to interfere in the process," he said.
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