Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday accused the West of trying to cripple his country through economic sanctions.
"The United Kingdom has mobilized her friends and allies in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand to impose illegal economic sanctions against Zimbabwe," Mugabe told a world summit on food security, hosted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
"All this has been done to cripple Zimbabwe's economy and thereby effect illegal regime change in our country," he added.
Mugabe said western countries have been using non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and opposition political parties to topple his government.
"Funds are being channeled through non-governmental organizations to ... opposition political parties which are a creation of the West," he said, "Further, these western-funded NGOs also use food as a political weapon with which to campaign against (the) government especially in the rural areas."
Mugabe's attendance at the food summit was heavily criticized by several western countries, which blamed his land reform for the country's economic difficulties and widespread poverty.
The high-level conference was called at a time when the world is experiencing a dramatic increase in food prices, aimed at winning donor pledges for urgent aid as short-term solutions and also to generate longer term strategies to safeguard food production.
But national delegates differed on certain causes behind higher food prices, notably the increasing demand for biofuels.
Mugabe said climate change and the use of crops for bio-fuels by some western countries should be responsible for the food prices hike.
Source:Xinhua
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