Try whites, says Mugabe as impeachment begins
Harare - Zimbabwe's main opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), on Wednesday launched impeachment proceedings against President Robert Mugabe.
The MDC, which poses the strongest challenge yet to Mugabe's 20-year rule, put forward a motion that was accepted by Emmerson Mnangagwa, the parliamentary speaker
"I have accepted this document because it complies with the constitution, but it also requires that I be given time to take the document in study and report to the house later," Mnangagwa told parliament. The MDC holds 57 of 150 seats in parliament, meeting the one-third requirment to propose impeachment - but far short of the two-thirds needed to impeach.
MDC officials have said they do not expect to oust Mugabe, but that the move will create a platform for public debate about his presidency.
"The national reconciliation policy is being gravely threatened by acts of the white settlers. We shall revoke that national reconciliation policy," the ZIANA news agency quoted Mugabe as telling supporters of his ruling Zanu-PF party.
"The whites, including Smith, will now stand trial for the genocide in this country. The Americans are still chasing after the Nazis and we will also start looking for the whites who fought with Smith. They must be arrested," Mugabe said.
The 76-year-old former guerrilla leader said white Zimbabweans, supported by Britain and the United States, were trying to destabilise the country, which won independence from Britain in 1980 after a bloody seven-year war against Smith's Rhodesia.
Mugabe has in the past accused whites of financially backing the MDC. - Reuters
Published on the Web by IOL on 2000-10-25 18:05:01
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