Mugabe ready for Zimbabwe polls
Mutare, 26 Feb – (ANA) - Octogenarian President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has called for his supporters to avoid violence in elections he says should happen this year and which he says his ZANU-PF party is poised to win resoundingly.
The veteran ruler told supporters at a rally for his 88th birthday the time had come to make up with the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), with whom Mugabe was forced to share power after disputed and violent elections in 2008.
"We used to fight each other, but time has come for us to do our politics in a much more cultured way," he said in an hour-long address at a stadium in Mutare, 270 km (180 miles) east of Harare.
"Although our differences are political, we shouldn't regard them as a source of hatred. No. No violence, no violence, no violence."
Mugabe, who has held power since independence from Britain in 1980, has become a pariah in the West, blamed for running the economy into the ground and for massive human rights abuses to keep his grip on power.
One of Africa's longest-serving leaders, Mugabe is pushing for elections in 2012, a year ahead of schedule, arguing the unity government he formed with MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has broken down. (ANA)
FA/ANA/26 February 2012-------------