Hero's welcome for Mugabe
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A hero's welcome was being prepared yesterday for Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, with state media portraying his visit to Portugal for a weekend summit as a triumph despite the criticism he faced there over his human rights record.
Mugabe, Zimbabwe's only ruler since independence from Britain in 1980, was "an indisputable icon of African nationalism" who took centre stage at the summit and made "some of the European heads of government and his detractors including Angela Merkel look like dwarfs," information minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, the chief government spokesman, was quoted as saying in state media today.
Official media in Zimbabwe reported that Mugabe "stole the show" in Lisbon. Busloads of supporters were seen being driven to the main Harare airport, evidently to welcome him home.
German Chancellor Merkel had said as the special Europe-Africa summit opened on Saturday that the EU was "united" in condemning Mugabe for what critics inside and outside Zimbabwe view as his economic mismanagement, failure to curb corruption and contempt for democracy.
That prompted The Herald, the Zimbabwean government mouthpiece, to call her a "Nazi remnant". The Herald quoted Mr Ndlovu as accusing her of "racism of the first order".
Mr Ndlovu had racially-charged criticism for Baroness Valerie Amos, who represented Britain in Portugal after Prime Minister Gordon Brown stayed away to protest at Mugabe's attendance.
"If she (Amos) has a soul, she would understand that she is being used by her master against her own people," Mr Ndlovu said.
At the summit, Ms Amos, who is black, "emphasised the importance of the summit's goals and set out a number of stark and shocking statistics, such as the average life expectancy for women in Zimbabwe, which is 34," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said, on customary condition of anonymity in line with policy.
In his summit speech, Zimbabwean media reported today, Mugabe described Germany, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands as "a gang of four" that sided with Britain in attacking him.
Mugabe said Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Belgium, Austria, Romania and Finland did not mention Zimbabwe at the summit and "this confirmed northern Europe as the hard-liners while the southerners have a different approach to Zimbabwe," The Herald reported.
Mugabe accused his critics in the EU of "arrogance" and said they had been misinformed about Zimbabwe's situation.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments