Watch CNN tonight at 2100 CET - Interview with Mugabe

[Doro]

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/09/23/mugabe.amanpour/index.html (http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/09/23/mugabe.amanpour/index.html)

Amanpour gets rare interview with Mugabe

<LI class=cnnHiliteHeader _extended="true">Story Highlights <LI _extended="true">Christiane Amanpour to interview Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe
<LI _extended="true">Interview will be Mugabe's first with a major Western media outlet in years
<LI _extended="true">Political turmoil, Western sanctions and power-sharing deal up for discussion
Watch "Amanpour (http://edition.cnn.com/CNNI/Programs/amanpour/)" weekdays: ET: 1500, 0800; CET 2100, 1400; HK: 2000, 0300





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(CNN) -- On "Amanpour" this Thursday, Christiane Amanpour sits down for an exclusive live interview with the President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/WORLD/africa/09/23/mugabe.amanpour/art.mugabenew.jpg Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe talks to CNN's Christiane Amanpour Thursday.


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In Mugabe's first interview with a major Western media outlet in years, Christiane will explore the historic power-sharing agreement with the unity government there, and get the president's thoughts on the highly-emotive issue of land redistribution.
As Mugabe prepares to take center stage at the United Nations on Friday, Christiane will take the opportunity to ask if the power-sharing agreement in Zimbabwe is really working, if international sanctions are responsible for his country's economic and political turmoil, and what kind of engagement he is looking for from the international community.
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'Amanpour'
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Join CNN's Christiane Amanpour daily for a provocative analysis of global stories that matter to you.
Weekdays 2100 CET
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see full schedule » (http://www.cnn.com/CNNI/Programs/amanpour/)


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In this rare interview, Christiane (http://edition.cnn.com/CNNI/Programs/amanpour/) will also address signs of optimism emerging in Zimbabwe; sky-rocketing inflation stabilizing, basic goods returning to store shelves, and a loosening of restrictive media laws.
"Amanpour" is CNN International's new live global interview program, which launched on September 21, 2009 as the centerpiece of its new evening line up.
Live interview airs 2100 CET Thursday 24 September.

[pennymac]

soooo? Did anyone watch it?
Did you spend the rest of the night being sick?

[Doro]

Unfortually it was not on the UK CNN news but maybe will be shown on the website soon?

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/09/24/zimbabwe.mugabe.amanpour/index.html?iref=topnews

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Mugabe denies blame for Zimbabwe woes


<LI class=cnnHiliteHeader _extended="true">Story Highlights <LI _extended="true">Mugabe rejects criticism that he has turned Zimbabwe into a "basket case"
<LI _extended="true">CNN interview is Mugabe's first in years with a major Western network
Mugabe calls sanctions "unjustified and illegal"


September 24, 2009 -- Updated 2117 GMT (0517 HKT)



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NEW YORK (CNN) -- Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, in a rare interview Thursday, depicted himself as an African hero battling imperialism and foreign attempts to oust him rather than the widespread perception of a dictator clinging to power at the expense of the welfare of his people and country.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/WORLD/africa/09/24/zimbabwe.mugabe.amanpour/art.mugabe.2.cnn.jpg Robert Mugabe says sanctions against his country are "unjustifiable."


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The 85-year-old Mugabe, the only leader of Zimbabwe since it became independent from Britain in 1980, rejected repeated assertions by CNN's Christiane Amanpour that his policies have driven the nation once known as Africa's breadbasket to virtual economic collapse.
Instead, Mugabe accused Britain and the United States of seeking to oust him by imposing economic sanctions, the effects of which he said were worsened by years of drought.
He denied that his country is in economic shambles, saying it grew enough food last year to feed all its people, and defended policies that have driven white farmers off their land as properly restoring that land to indigenous Africans.
"The land reform is the best thing (that) could have ever have happened to an African country," said Mugabe, a former revolutionary leader who came to power when white-ruled Rhodesia became black-ruled Zimbabwe. "It has to do with national sovereignty." http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/img/2.0/mosaic/tabs/video.gif Watch Mugabe on his controversial land reform program » (http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/09/24/zimbabwe.mugabe.amanpour/index.html?iref=topnews#cnnSTCVideo)
It was Mugabe's first interview with a Western television network in several years, and he appeared to get frustrated with some of Amanpour's direct questioning, repeatedly denying widely accepted evidence and reports on his nation's woes.
Don't Miss

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Mugabe pardons prisoners to ease jail congestion (http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/09/03/mugabe.zimbabwe.prison.pardons/index.html)

Mugabe denied that his ZANU-PF party lost elections in 2008 that forced him to accept a power-sharing agreement with his chief rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, who now is prime minister. Violence surrounding the disputed election, much of it against opposition supporters, further damaged Zimbabwe's standing, but Mugabe rejected any blame on Thursday.
"You don't leave power when imperialists dictate that you leave," he insisted. "There is regime change. Haven't you heard of (the) regime change program by Britain and the United States that is aimed at getting not just Robert Mugabe out of power but get Robert Mugabe and his party out of power?"
He also waved off Amanpour's assertion that the power-sharing arrangement is not working, and that opposition political figures are continuing to get harassed and arrested. http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/img/2.0/mosaic/tabs/video.gif Watch Mugabe talk about power-sharing » (http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/09/24/zimbabwe.mugabe.amanpour/index.html?iref=topnews#cnnSTCVideo)
Asked about Roy Bennett, a white opposition figure who has yet to be sworn in as agriculture minister a year after formation of the power-sharing government, Mugabe stammered before saying Bennett faces charges of "organizing arms of war" against Zimbabwe. He added that he's heard the prosecution lacks evidence in the case, but said he won't agree to swearing in Bennett until after any charges are dropped.
Mugabe also denied any responsibility for harm to the nation from his economic policies, instead blaming what he called "unjustified" and "illegal" sanctions that he said were intended to bring regime change.
"The sanctions must be lifted. We should have no interference from outside," Mugabe said. "The continued imperialist interference in our affairs is affecting our country adversely."
When Amanpour challenged him by saying most of the sanctions were directed at individuals, rather than economic entities, Mugabe said she was wrong.
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'Amanpour'
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Join CNN's Christiane Amanpour daily for a provocative analysis of global stories that matter to you.
Weekdays 2100 CET
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"The U.S. sanctions are real sanctions, economic sanctions. Have you looked at them?" he said. "It's because of sanctions, mainly."
Amanpour tried to push the point, saying outside observers blamed his policies and not sanctions. "Not everybody says so," Mugabe cut her off. "It's not true."
He also rejected criticism from South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner for his role in the anti-apartheid struggle, who has accused Mugabe of turning Zimbabwe into a "basket case" and repressing his own people.
"It's not a basket case at all," Mugabe said. He later called Tutu's comments "devilish talk" and added: "He doesn't know what he's talking about, the little man."
On the takeover of white-owned farms -- a policy blamed for undermining the agriculture sector -- Mugabe displayed the African nationalist fervor of his revolutionary days.
"Zimbabwe belongs to the Zimbabweans, pure and simple," he said, then adding that white Zimbabweans -- even those born in the country with legal ownership of their land -- have a debt to pay.
"They occupied the land illegally. They seized the land from our people," Mugabe said. When Amanpour pressed him on white farmers being forced off their land, he shot back, "Not just off their land. Our land."
"They are British settlers," he said, later calling them "citizens by colonization, seizing land from original people, indigenous people of the country."
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Asked if would run again in elections likely to take place in 2011, Mugabe refused to answer, but denied he feared defeat and again rejected charges of past electoral wrongdoing.

"Elections don't go all that smoothly all the time in many countries," he said, tossing a jab at the United States. "Look what happens elsewhere. They didn't go smoothly here, look at what happened during the first term of Bush." E-mail to a friend (http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/09/24/zimbabwe.mugabe.amanpour/index.html?iref=topnews#) http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/img/2.0/mosaic/util/email.gif


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All About Robert Mugabe (http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Robert_Mugabe) • Zimbabwe (http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Zimbabwe) • Morgan Tsvangirai (http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Morgan_Tsvangirai)

[igundwane]

It was on UK CNN @ 8pm last night. Usually waffle, nothing enlightening, must say he was very quiet and not as vocal as I thought he would have been.

Did note, they perched him on a stool which he was struggling to stay on though.

[Azieko N'daba]

No surprises there then

[bograt]

It was on UK CNN @ 8pm last night. Usually waffle, nothing enlightening, must say he was very quiet and not as vocal as I thought he would have been.

Did note, they perched him on a stool which he was struggling to stay on though.

Well what do you expect when there are no branches to hold on to......

[Nyala]

Well what do you expect when there are no branches to hold on to......


Reps coming your way. I nearly choked on my dinner when I read that.

[Tricky Nicky]

PMSL -

I deliberately avoided it - we have just bought a new 42" wide screen Plasma TV so I did not want to break it by throwing something at it.

[igundwane]

PMSL -

I deliberately avoided it - we have just bought a new 42" wide screen Plasma TV so I did not want to break it by throwing something at it.

Thought you lawyers could have afforded a 60" LCD .... All the better to you with, Bob !

[Steve]

PMSL -

I deliberately avoided it - we have just bought a new 42" wide screen Plasma TV so I did not want to break it by throwing something at it.


My daughter Tracey tried it with her's, but only the remote got scribbled...:whistling:

[Tricky Nicky]

Thought you lawyers could have afforded a 60" LCD .... All the better to you with, Bob !

No, unfortunatley not all of us lawyers can afford those - not unless the Government suddenly increase the rates that we can charge under legal aid!!!!!