International > Mugabe says Zimbabwe security forces on high alert

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe (R) is escorted by the United Nations Executive Director for Habitat Anna Tibaijuka (L) upon arrival at the 12th Summit of the Comesa Authority of Heads of States and Government at the United Nations offices in Nairobi, Ke

President Robert Mugabe has urged Zimbabwe's security forces to remain on high alert to thwart attempts to topple his government by the opposition and his Western foes, official media reported on Friday.

Mugabe, who in recent months has stepped up warnings against public protests amid an escalating economic crisis, told a ceremony for graduating police officers that threatened strikes and job stayaways were part of a plot by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to sow political turmoil.

"Our security forces have heightened their vigilance in order to thwart the subversive maneuvers of those who engage in crimes of political violence," Mugabe was quoted by the official Herald newspaper as saying at Thursday's event.

"I wish to call upon people of Zimbabwe to unite against the shameless British arm-twisting tactics being orchestrated through the MDC and the so-called civil groups," Mugabe said.

Mugabe, in power for the last 27 years, is widely accused of running down a once prosperous economy through controversial policies such as seizing white-owned farms for blacks, which has decimated commercial agriculture.

But Mugabe charges that former colonial power Britain has mobilized its Western allies to sabotage the economy as punishment for the seizures.

The government has of late arrested dozens of MDC activists on links to recent petrol bombings of police, government and ruling ZANU-PF targets as part of a "terrorist campaign" being funded by the West.

Western governments, which have isolated Mugabe and imposed targeted financial and travel sanctions on his top leadership, accuse the 83-year-old leader of human rights abuses and repression against opponents.

The MDC denies the charges of violence and say Mugabe has heightened a crackdown against the opposition ahead of next year's presidential and parliamentary elections.

Zimbabwe's junior doctors were on Friday expected to start a job boycott to press for higher salaries while the main labor federation, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union, has threatened a work stay-away next month, the second this year, to protest poor working conditions.

"We cannot allow those who plot our ruin to determine the destiny of our people. Never ever. Moreover, we will never allow let alone succumb to the call for job stayaways and wild cat strikes," Mugabe said.

Zimbabwe's economic crisis is marked by the world's highest inflation rate above 3,700 percent. Four in five people are without jobs and struggling to feed their families.

2007-06-03