* Mugabe shrugs off party grumbling, foreign condemnation
* Blamed for ruining economy, human rights abuses
* ZANU-PF is “stuck with him” – analyst
By Cris Chinaka
HARARE, Feb 21 (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s President Robert
Mugabe turned 88 on Tuesday, vowing to stay in power despite
grumbling inside his party that he should hand over to a younger
leader, and international condemnation of his economic and human
rights record.
Mugabe said he was healthy and fit, in an interview with
state television aired late on Monday, and made no reference to
media reports that he is receiving treatment for prostate cancer
in Singapore.
“At this age I can still go some distance, can’t I,” Mugabe
said, laughing, clapping his hands and rocking in his chair.
Mugabe once charmed global figures with his wit and
intellect in the early years of his rule when a relatively rich
Zimbabwe was praised for its education and social systems.
But he has since become a pariah in the West, blamed for
running the economy into the ground and for massive human rights
abuses to keep his grip on power.
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