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July 26, 2006
Mugabe's Tyranny Now on Display
Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe shocked the world by a distasteful display of extravagance amid a mounting crisis of hunger and poverty caused by his "economic reforms":
Zimbabweans watching the opening of a new session of parliament were astonished to see that the colonial-era chamber had been totally revamped, in what state television said were "cultural reforms".Mugabe is also a commedian:Mr Mugabe - who has never hidden his admiration of the British Royal Family - sat on a ceremonial chair newly draped in leopard skin, a traditional sign of royalty in Zimbabwe. His chair was flanked by two huge elephant tusks, a stuffed leopard and two antelope heads hung on the walls of the graceful white building, and the president's young wife, Grace, sat on a chair carefully placed over a zebra skin.
News of the 82-year-old president's lavish "new look" parliament comes as ordinary Zimbabweans battle with deteriorating living conditions. The annual inflation rate is the highest in the world at nearly 1,200 per cent and there are critical shortages of fuel, foreign currency and essential drugs.
Daily power cuts lasting seven or eight hours have become a way of life. In the low-income, high-density suburbs, women cook on fires made from sawdust and wood shavings because paraffin and bundles of firewood have become too expensive.
Mr Mugabe, who maintains that Britain and other western powers are to blame for his country's crisis, went on: "It is refreshing that the world has now become fully aware of the dishonest and hypocritical anti-Zimbabwe strategy of the British government."Incredibly, Mugabe claimed that electronic monitoring of citizens by
The situation has gotten to be so ridiculous it is amazing that African countries continue to recognize Mugabe as a legitimate ruler. We fear for the people of Zimbabwe and hope to find a willing blogger within the country who can make known the plight of his or her country.
Posted by tim at July 26, 2006 12:36 PM
