Harare — President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday said that the majority of whites in Zimbabwe are crooks and cheats, and said he would be happy if some foreign country were to take them. "These crooks, really, we inherited as part of our population," he said in the BBC programme, Talkabout Africa.

"We cannot expect them to have straightened up, to be honest people, and an honest community, all told. "Yes, some of them are good people, but they remain cheats. They remain dishonest. They remain uncommitted even to the national cause. It is as if we are running a government of two communities, they on their own not wanting to get truly integrated into the social frame, but just wanting all the time to oppose government.

"And you cannot run a country that way. We would actually be happier if some country were to accept them, and since Britain said it wanted to assist them to come to Britain, ah, we can open our doors for them but we will not force anyone out. There are some of them who are good, but I think the bulk are people we would rather do without."

He said the farmers were using the opposition MDC as their agents, and when the war veterans saw through this, they started to occupy white farms-although their demands for land were legitimate.

In reply to another question, Mugabe said although Zimbabwe's participation in the DRC war was very expensive for the country, he had no regrets whatsoever about his decision to intervene.