Mugabe sworn in for five-year term

Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, Africa’s oldest leader at 89, began a new five-year term yesterday by calling the West “vile” for questioning his re-election and vowing to press ahead with nationalist economic policies.

After taking the oath of office before Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku at a sun-drenched soccer stadium in Harare, Mugabe praised African countries that endorsed the Jul 31 vote and told his critics to “go hang”.

As he was sworn in, former colonial power Britain and the EU repeated serious reservations about the credibility of the vote, already rejected by Mugabe’s main rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, as a fraudulent “coup by ballot”.