Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe denied on Thursday that talks on a unity government had stalled and called on Western nations to end “illegal” economic sanctions that were inflicting “untold miseries” on Zimbabwe.
In a speech before the UN General Assembly in New York, Mugabe lashed out at critics who sought UN sanctions on his regime this summer, after he refused to step down following presidential elections that observers said were flawed.
Mugabe said it was up to his own country to work toward a unity government, which would include one-time opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, whose party won this year’s parliamentary elections. A long-awaited power-sharing deal was signed last week but has since stalled amid wrangling over Cabinet posts.
“There is no holdup. The United Nations is the holdup,” Mugabe said in an impromptu conference with reporters, who had corralled him on the UN’s media floor after a private interview.
Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), won a first-round presidential election in the spring but pulled out of a runoff against Mugabe after reports that MDC supporters were being killed and intimidated.
Mugabe praised outgoing South African President Thabo Mbeki, who had helped broker a power-sharing arrangement.
Mbeki “did most of the work. The rest is our share,” Mugabe said.
Asked how the elections and power-sharing talks might have affected his international reputation, Mugabe replied “enhanced it.”
In his earlier speech, Mugabe called for reforming the 15-nation Security Council, which he said has long been controlled and manipulated by Western powers.
“I would therefore like to appeal to those members of the international community who have imposed illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe to lift them, so that my country can focus, undisturbed, on its economic turnaround program,” he said.
“This is imperative that the Security Council be democratized by ensuring equitable geographical representation through increasing its membership,” Mugabe said.
He called for two permanent seats for Africa on the Security Council, which currently has five permanent members with veto power.
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