Zimbabwe: Former British PM Denies Zimbabwe Coup Plot Claim

VIDEO: Thabo Mbeki: 'Justice Cannot Trump Peace'
28 November 2013
allAfrica.com

Cape Town — Former British prime minister Tony Blair has released a statement denying that he put pressure on South Africa while he was in office to help remove Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe in a military operation, AFP reports.

Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's former president, made the claim in an interview, saying there was a retired British army chief who had been pressured by "the then prime minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair ... (to) work out a military plan so that we can physically remove Robert Mugabe" in the late 2000s.

A spokesperson for Blair denied this had happened, according to AFP, saying the former statesman "long believed that Zimbabwe would be much better off without Robert Mugabe and always argued for a tougher stance against him, but he never asked anyone to plan or take part in any such military intervention".

Mbeki's spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga told AFP the former president stood by his words.

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