Zimbabwe: US envoy lucky to be alive
 

The American ambassador to Zimbabwe has been accused of attempting to provoke "regime change" after straying into a military zone close to the residence of the country's President, Robert Mugabe.

Ambassador Christopher Dell found himself looking down the wrong end of a gun as he was held at bayonet and gunpoint for more than one-and-a-half hours by the presidential guard after walking up a restricted hill at the National Botanical Gardens. The hill overlooks one of President Mugabe's official residences, located about a mile away.

The American embassy said the ambassador had inadvertently walked into the poorly marked military area while in the gardens last Monday.

The hill in the gardens is not fenced off, but it has been restricted since 1981 when shots were fired at the residence from the top.

But the incident was sufficient for the Zimbabwean government to accuse Mr Dell yesterday of attempting to provoke a diplomatic stand-off. George Charamba, the President's spokesman, told the state-run Herald newspaper that Mr Dell was lucky to be alive after the incident. "The ambassador must consider himself very lucky that he is dealing with a professional Zimbabwe National Army. Elsewhere, and definitely in America, he would have been a dead man."

Whilst the Zimbabwean government slaughters it's people, demolishes their homes, ruins the economy and steals their land the West looks on.

As a former colony of ours, I think at least the British government should send our troops to get rid of that piece of shit Mugabe.