Mugabe celebrates 83rd birthday after IMF snub

GWERU, Zimbabwe, Feb 24 (Reuters) President Robert Mugabe held an 83rd birthday party for thousands of supporters today shortly after the IMF expressed deep concern over Zimbabwe's deteriorating social and economic conditions.

Mugabe has ruled the southern African country since independence from Britain in 1980 and critics, who accuse the president of human rights violations, say his nationalist policies have plunged the economy into deep crisis.

Crowds of supporters from Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party and school children gathered in a stadium in the quiet central Zimbabwe city of Gweru for the celebration of song, dance and poetry.

Organisers have also promised a huge feast.

The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change has said the party is ''in bad taste'' given the state of the economy. Doctors, nurses and teachers have staged wildcat strikes demanding higher wages to cushion against rampant inflation.

The International Monetary Fund said yesterday it would maintain its suspension of financial and technical assistance to Zimbabwe.

Harare had failed to clear its debt arrears and address the worsening economic and social crisis, the IMF said.

Mugabe turned 83 on Wednesday and struck a defiant tone in an interview with state television. He looked relaxed and offered no clues as to how he would reverse a deep recession that has hit urban workers hardest.

On Wednesday, the government banned political rallies and protests in volatile townships and districts in the capital Harare, a move the opposition compared to a ''state of emergency''.

yesterday the police cancelled an opposition meeting in the country's second largest city of Bulawayo.

The 3-month ban followed weekend clashes between riot squads and opposition supporters when the police fired teargas and water cannons to stop a major rally.

Mugabe has kept the nation guessing on when he will relinquish power and suggested in the interview that colleagues in ZANU-PF were plotting to edge him out.

At its December congress, the ruling party noted a motion to extend Mugabe's rule by two years under a plan to hold both presidential and parliamentary elections in 2010.

The motion is expected to be considered by ZANU-PF's central committee and debated in parliament before the end of the year.

Mugabe co-led Zimbabwe's 1970s fight to end minority white rule and rejects charges he has run down the economy. He says Britain has orchestrated a Western sabotage campaign to punish him for the seizure of white-owned farms for blacks.

REUTERS MS PM1506