Mugabe attacks Britain

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Monday bluntly told Britain to mind its own business, angered at the way British ministers are increasingly criticising his regime, media reports said.

"Britain is trying to teach us how to run our country and naturally we take exception to that," he told British television in Cairo, Egypt on the sidelines of the first summit of European Union (EU) and African leaders.

Said Mugabe: "We are not a British colony anymore. Britain has no right - no right at all - to try and suggest to the rest of the world that we are a failure. If there is any country that should now be considered for sanctions it is Britain for interfering in the domestic affairs of Zimbabwe."

Earlier on Monday, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said he would call on Britain's EU partners next week to send election monitors to Zimbabwe to ensure that the parliamentary elections scheduled for next month are free and fair.

He told the BBC from Cairo that Zimbabweans had the right to choose their own government in a fair election. "I will be proposing next week in Brussels that the EU should consider providing election monitors to make sure that not only are the elections free and fair but are seen to be free and fair."

Meanwhile, media reports said a spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the weekend violence against demonstrators were "worrying developments" and that the government would review its assistance to Harare.
"We are going to review all the assistance we give to the Mugabe regime and that review will take place in the coming days," the spokesman said.