Mugabe To White Farmers "Get Yo Azzes Out. We Have A Nation To Destroy"

Mugabe wants Zimbabwe's white farmers out

CHINHOYI, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said Saturday that land seizures would continue, and he called for the country's last white farmers to leave.

Mugabe was addressing supporters at a celebration marking his 85th birthday in Chinhoyi, 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Harare.

"Land distribution will continue. It will not stop," Mugabe said. "The few remaining white farmers should quickly vacate their farms as they have no place there."

Mugabe was capitalizing on what has long been a sensitive issue in Zimbabwe and other nations in the region: the unjust division of land between whites and blacks that is a legacy of colonialism and white minority rule. Dozens of the several hundred white farmers left in Zimbabwe are currently challenging the right of its government to confiscate their land before a regional tribunal of Africa judges.

The birthday bash, which reportedly cost $250,000, was held as Zimbabwe's new unity government failed to secure financial aid to rescue the country's collapsed economy.

Zimbabwe faces the world's highest official inflation rate, a hunger crisis and a cholera epidemic that has killed nearly 4,000 people since August.

Mugabe, who turned 85 on Feb. 21, has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980. He was recently forced to relax his grip on power and enter a coalition government with longtime rival Morgan Tsvangirai who was made prime minister.

But the first few weeks of the unity government have been marred by squabbles over key positions and the continued arrest of political activists, leaving some doubting how much power Mugabe is prepared to relinquish.

"I am still in control and hold executive authority, so nothing much has changed," Mugabe told a crowd of about 2,000.