‘You Got Gaddafi Killed’, Mugabe Tells Nigeria, SA

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has accused continental heavyweights South Africa and Nigeria of being complicit in the toppling Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi

Addressing 47 health ministers at a World Health Organisation conference in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, Mugabe said South Africa, Nigeria and Gabon voted in favour of a United Nations Security Council resolution in 2011 which imposed a no-fly zone in Libya, leading to the eventual ouster and killing of Gaddafi.

Mugabe, who was the guest of honour at the meeting, criticised the Killing of “innocent” people by “greedy and envious” world leaders.

“Yes he (Gaddafi) may have been a dictator but he was a friend of his people, a lover of his people, one who desired that his people should develop and not live in poverty and had managed to draw water from underneath our world to create a huge massive dam for the benefit of his country which is semi-desert,” said Mugabe.

“He became friends with us. He wanted to democratise the African Union to be better politically and economically united.”

The UN Security Council resolution had initially failed to garner the required level of support, but the three African states were later persuaded to vote in support of a no-fly zone which would lead to outright military invasion by Western forces.

Mugabe said while Africa managed to convince Russia and China that the invasion of Libya would cost lives, the three nations, namely South Africa, Nigeria and Gabon went on to vote in support of military aggression.