Robert Mugabe sworn-in as Zimbabwe’s President for fifth term
Harare: Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, Africa’s oldest leader at 89, was sworn-in on Thursday for a new five-year term.
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Mugabe, who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980, has told critics of his re-election to “go hang” and has vowed to press ahead with nationalist policies forcing foreign firms to turn over majority stakes to black Zimbabweans.
Mugabe and senior officials from his ruling ZANU-PF party is the target of sanctions imposed by governments in the West, which has accused them of staying in power through massive human rights violations and vote rigging.
Britain said on Thursday Mugabe’s re-election could not be deemed credible without an independent investigation into allegations of voting irregularities.
US officials this week said the election was flawed and Washington had no plans to loosen sanctions until there were signs of change in the country.
The European Union will review relations with Zimbabwe given its “serious concerns” about the election, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Thursday.
The EU’s verdict on the fairness of the elections will be crucial to a decision on whether it continues to ease sanctions.
Soon after the July 31 vote, which went ahead peacefully in contrast to 2008 election violence, domestic monitors from the Zimbabwe Election Support Network said registration flaws may have disenfranchised up to a million people out of 6.4 million registered voters.
But observer missions from the regional 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union broadly endorsed the vote as free and peaceful and called on all parties to accept its results.
