Zimbabwe Watch: Mugabe, 'Unholy Men,' and Colonial Injustices

Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe got a round of applause after giving a speech at a UN food policy meeting in Rome denouncing George W Bush and Tony Blair as being 'unholy men.'

The Rome conference is being held to mark the 60th anniversary of the UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). Mugabe is officially banned from travelling to the European Union, but is only allow to enter for UN meetings.

Western governments and human rights organizations have accused Mugabe of starving his people and as Tony Hall, US ambassador to the FAO said, " food has been used as a weapon."

It is reported that Zimbabwe imports at least 37,000 tons of maize (corn) a week to feed an estimated 3.8 million people, mostly in rural areas.

Mugabe used most of his speech to lambast the two leaders.

"Must we allow these men, the two unholy men of our millennium, who in the same way as Hitler and Mussolini formed [an] unholy alliance, form an alliance to attack an innocent country?" asked Mr Mugabe, apparently referring to Iraq.

"The voice of Mr Bush and the voice of Mr Blair can't decide who shall rule in Zimbabwe, who shall rule in Africa, who shall rule in Asia, who shall rule in Venezuela, who shall rule in Iran, who shall rule in Iraq," he said.

Mugabe sees his land reforms, which enable the government to seize hundreds of farms owned mostly by white Zimbabweans, as a way to correct 'colonial injustices.'

He blamed agricultural subsidies offered to farm produce from developed countries for crippling "the development of agriculture in developing countries."

Delegates applauded Mr Mugabe at the end of his speech. Mugabe also received a congratulatory hug from Venezuela president Hugo Chavez.