Zimbabwe President Mugabe threatens to "crush" opposition ahead of early polls

Washington, Dec 20 (ANI): Amid allegations that his forces are spreading out across the country in order to frighten voters ahead of elections, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has said that he and his party are still fit to be in power and those who stand on their way would be "crushed".

The Telegraph quoted the 86 year-old President, while speaking to delegates at the annual conference of his Zanu PF party in Mutare, as saying that the general and Presidential elections should be held as early as June next year.

He further told delegates that he and Zanu PF were still fit for power. "We are indeed a fired up, fuelled and fast moving train. Those who stand in the way of that train stand the risk of being crushed."

Simon Moyo, the party's chairman, reportedly told its members to prepare for elections in 2011, adding: "We must bury forever this combined British and American non-governmental organisation."

However, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, who is Mugabe's partner in a shaky and fractious coalition, insists he will not go to the polls until at least 2012 and only then Presidential elections should be held, the paper said.

The disagreement came as Wikileaks released a cable from 2000, which claimed that Mugabe turned down a lucrative retirement package offered by the former United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Kofi Annan.

The cable further revealed that Zanu-PF itself had put out "feelers" to see whether the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the party opposed to Mugabe's Zanu-PF, would be willing to allow Mugabe a "graceful exit" that was "in Zimbabwe's national interest".

Meanwhile, Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party has claimed that Zanu PF is trying to threaten voters in rural areas, where the opposition is strongest, well ahead of the elections and the arrival of international observers. (ANI)