DAR AL HARB - AUSTRALIA/ZIMBABWE: MUGABE OF ZIMBABWE ACCUSES AUSTRALIA OF TERRORISM BECAUSE A 'CRICKET TOUR' WAS CANCELLED

Zimbabwe accuses Australia of funding terrorism

SYDNEY - Zimbabwe’s government, furious over the cancellation of a key Australian cricket tour, on Thursday accused Canberra of funding ‘terrorist activities’ in the troubled African nation.

Harare hit back days after Prime Minister John Howard banned Australia’s tour of Zimbabwe, saying it would provide a propaganda boost for its ‘grubby dictator’ Robert Mugabe.

Zimbabwe’s Information Minister Sikyaniso Ndlovu claimed Howard’s government was trying to topple Mugabe by funding political violence in Zimbabwe through cash channelled to aid groups and vowed the alleged bid would be thwarted.

‘The monies that come to them are to cause violence, terrorist activities,’ Ndlovu told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. ‘I’ve got a list, a long list of their terrorist activities here.

‘We will not tolerate violence by the puppets here who are funded by the Australian government,’ he said, also taking the opportunity to slam Howard as acting in ‘Gestapo’-like fashion by banning the cricket tour.

That barb came in response to Howard’s claim on Sunday that the ‘Mugabe regime at present is behaving like the Gestapo towards its political opponents.’

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