Harare/Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's criticism
of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe at the European Union-Africa
summit demonstrated she was 'a racist and a fascist' and a 'Nazi
remnant,' according to Zimbabwe's information minister.
At the Lisbon summit at the weekend, Merkel said Mugabe's human
rights record 'damages the image of the new Africa.'
Zimbabwe's state-controlled daily Herald quoted Sikhanyiso Ndlovu
Monday as saying her remarks were 'coming from a Nazi remnant.'
'She should shut up or ship out,' he said. 'Zimbabwe is not a
colony of Germany.'
'This is racism of the first order' by the German chancellor, he
said.
He described Mugabe as 'an indisputable icon of African
nationalism, a pan-African, a revolutionary and liberator of
Zimbabwe.'
Ndlovu also said that Merkel had 'dirty hands' and had no right to
comment on the situation in Zimbabwe.
He said she had 'demonstrated her Nazi inclination' when she
banned the Scientology Church in Germany, and (Hollywood actor) Tom
Cruise from shooting a film on Claus von Stauffenberg, the Wehrmacht
general who led a failed conspiracy to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
The newspaper, quoting unnamed sources, also claimed that Merkel
had asked South African President Thabo Mbeki to press Mugabe 'not to
be hard hitting in his response to her comments.'
Merkel's spokesman in Berlin stressed the chancellor had been
speaking on behalf of other European Union members when she made her
comments at the EU-Africa summit over the weekend.
Merkel had been specifically asked by the Portuguese EU presidency
to speak on the theme of human rights, the spokesman said, stressing
that human rights remained firmly on the EU agenda.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
Your Talkback on this Story