Zimbabwe's president is sworn in

 


SubHead:   Lawmakers boycott event

Author:     BY JON JETER

  HARARE, Zimbabwe - President Robert Mugabe was sworn in Sunday 
for his fifth term in office following a bitterly fought 
election that the opposition and many Western governments 
denounced as rigged.

  Speaking publicly for the first time since government election 
officials declared him the winner four days ago, Mugabe returned 
to the themes he struck during his campaign against Morgan 
Tsvangirai, a former trade union leader.

  Mugabe is a former rebel leader who led this country to 
independence from Britain 22 years ago. He told an audience 
assembled in the colonial-style State House mansion that his 
victory was a triumph against the West and whites who he said 
had aligned against him and his governing party, the Zimbabwe 
African National Union-Patriotic Front.

  
''We have dealt a stunning blow to imperialism,'' he said.

  Several African heads of states attended the ceremony, including 
President Sam Nujoma of Namibia and President Joseph Kabila of 
the Democratic Republic of Congo.

  But the 57 lawmakers from the opposition Movement for Democratic 
Change boycotted it, as did representatives from the United 
States, European Union countries, New Zealand and Canada. All 
said they were protesting an election they said had been tainted 
by months of political violence and intimidation, last-minute 
changes to electoral laws, and the disenfranchisement of tens of 
thousands of voters in Harare -- an opposition stronghold -- who 
failed to vote because the government reduced the number of 
polling stations.

  Mugabe, 78, remained defiant, blaming racism for the criticism 
and pledging to accelerate his land-reform program, under which 
the country's most fertile land has been seized from white 
commercial farmers for redistribution to poor, landless blacks.

  ''Thanks to the people of Zimbabwe for loudly saying: Never 
again shall Zimbabwe be a colony,'' Mugabe said. ''It is our 
people who decide, who must say so, not you, sirs and not the 
one person in 10 Downing St., Tony Blair,'' Mugabe said, 
referring to Britain's prime minister.

  The takeovers and occupations of farms, lack of transparency and 
political violence have led many international donors to cut 
funding to Zimbabwe, which is in the fourth year of a recession 
and a worsening food shortage.

  Mugabe appealed to the nation and the opposition to reconcile to 
address the pressing economic needs, but fell short of proposing 
a government of national unity. South African President Thabo 
Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo are pressing 
Mugabe to accept such an arrangement to avoid deepening 
international sanctions and suspension from the Commonwealth of 
Britain and its former colonies.

  While a South African observer mission has said the elections 
were ''legitimate,'' Mbeki has not yet commented on them.

  As the leader of the region's most robust economy and most 
respected democracy, many Western leaders are looking to Mbeki 
to denounce the results and provide some reassurance that the 
continent is committed to democratic principles and property 
rights.

  Investors and Western diplomats have said they might interpret 
Mbeki's support for Mugabe or the elections as a sign that 
Africa is not intent on revitalizing its economies through good 
government and expanded international trade.