RSS 2.0 FeedJanuary 2012 Volume 39, Parliament and Politics
WE WILL NEVER BE FORCED OUT OF POWER, SAYS MNANGAGWA
Defence Minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa says regime change sponsored by the West will never happen in Zimbabwe.He said the country’s defence forces stood ready to counter western influences.
The violent ouster of sitting presidents in some North African countries had seen the defence forces in Zimbabwe responding in a manner that would safeguard the country’s sovereignty.
Mnangagwa said this in a lecture to army officers attending the Joint Command and Staff Course Number 25 at the Zimbabwe Staff College.
"With the emergence of the regime change agenda around the year 2000, our defence policy had to be tailored towards countering influences that were being spread by the Western media through such devices as the Internet, CNN, BBC and Sky News," he said.
Minister Mnangagwa said the country's defence policy derived its legal basis from the Constitution.
"It is clear that the West together with the United States is using such tactics to sponsor regime change in various countries. Africa therefore needs to guard against such manoeuvres if it is to successfully resist neo-colonialism," he said.
Minister Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe's defence policy respected regional and international treaties and conventions that the country was party to.
Minister Mnangagwa also said Zimbabwe was against the proliferation of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction.
