Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on Wednesday the death of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was as tragic as that of US Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens, as he delivered a scathing critique of US, UN and Nato actions.
Speaking firmly, if occasionally stumbling over words, the 88-year-old president accused the United States of “rushing to suck oil from Iraq” when it invaded the country in 2003 on the erroneous grounds that it possessed weapons of mass destruction.
He said the UN Security Council had allowed itself to be “abused” last year by authorising “all necessary measures” - diplomatic code for military intervention - to protect civilians in Libya in a Nato operation that eventually toppled Gaddafi’s government and led to his death at the hands of rebels.
Speaking with deliberate irony, Mugabe opened an address to the UN General Assembly by praising as “most glowing and most moving” a speech by US President Barack Obama on Tuesday in which he rued Stevens’ death.
Stevens and three other Americans were killed during what Washington has called a “terrorist” attack on the US mission in Benghazi on September 11. The assault forced the evacuation of US personnel from the eastern city that was the hub for the Libyan rebel movement.
“I am sure we were all moved, we all agree, that it was a tragic death indeed and we condemn it,” said Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980 and is among Africa’s longest-serving leaders.
“As we in spirit join the United States in condemning that death, shall the United States also join us in condemning that barbaric death of the head of state of Libya - Gaddafi? It was a loss, a great loss, to Africa, a tragic loss to Africa.”