Parts of the speech, including some of the swipe at Obama, were independently reported in the Zimbabwean outlet NewsDay. Mugabe is facing reelection on July 31. It’s the country’s first presidential vote since a violence-ridden 2008 election that was met with such international outcry that Mugabe was forced to accept a power-sharing arrangement with one of his rivals, though he has appeared to largely maintain power.
Mugabe has run Zimbabwe since 1980 and is now 89 years old but shows no signs of ceding power willingly. Attitudes toward homosegxwality are negative in much of sub-Saharan Africa, where homophobia is often used by populist leaders looking for an easy enemy or a way to divert from tougher issues. The Obama administration’s plan to support gay rights in Africa has at times been met with a backlash and a belief among some that the United States wishes to impose homos*xuality on Africans.
Just for good measure, Mugabe also criticized Britain, which he called, in an almost word-for-word reproduction of long-held North Korean propaganda tropes, "a very cold, uninhabitable country with small houses." - See more at: http://houseretailnews.blogspot.com
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