Mugabe lashes out at whites, Britain over Zimbabwe crisis

HARARE, ZIMBABWE —  President Robert Mugabe devoted his first major speech since the unresolved presidential election three weeks ago to denouncing whites and former colonial ruler Britain, blaming them for the country’s political and economic troubles.

“There are black people who are putting prices up, but they are being used by the whites,” Mugabe said.

Whites “want the people to starve so they think the government is wrong and they should remove it,” said Mugabe, who has ruled since independence in 1980. Official results have not been released, but according to independent monitors, Mugabe failed to win reelection in the March 29 vote. The opposition and independent economists blame Mugabe’s policies for Zimbabwe’s economic collapse.

In neighboring South Africa, port workers refused to unload a Chinese ship carrying weapons for Zimbabwe’s government to protest its refusal to release election results.