adminAmbassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Xin Shunkang, said the President had set the right tone in his address for peaceful coexistence.
“The President gave an excellent speech that called on people to forgive and forget the violence of the past and try to live in harmony working together to make this country a beautiful place,” he said.
Ambassador Xin said China would continue to support Zimbabwe and called for the total removal of sanctions.
“China and Zimbabwe share the same experiences and we supported Zimbabwe during the liberation struggle politically, materially and morally. Even after independence we have continued to support Zimbabwe and we will continue doing so,” he said.
“We will continue to support Zimbabwe, which has made a lot of progress. We, however, call for the removal of sanctions in their entirety so that Zimbabwe can realise
its full potential,” he added.
Charge d’Affairs at the Algerian embassy, Mr Redha Oucher, echoed similar sentiments saying they rejected interference in other country’s internal affairs.
“I really appreciate the call for peace from Cde Mugabe. We all support the stability and peaceful political processes in Zimbabwe and we always reject external interference.
“According to our African vision we are always calling for African solutions to African issues,” he said.
Mr Oucher said Zimbabwe’s independence called for celebrations among Africans.
“The national day was not only a happy event for Zimbabwe but for all African countries like Algeria, which supported the liberation struggle,” he said.
Algeria provided support to the country’s liberation struggle and trained a number of guerrillas.
Mr Oucher said it was important for Zimbabwe and Algeria to consolidate their relations and said the President’s speech had provided a platform for economic revival.
“The President gave details of Zimbabwe’s economic recovery and opportunities in sectors such as agriculture and mining that are leading the revival.
“Algeria is always looking forward to strengthening economic co-operation with Zimbabwe in the light of our recent Joint Commission held in Harare in 2009 and the coming one to be held in Algeria that will include multi-sector business delegations,” he said.
Algeria has also provided over 400 scholarships to Zimbabwe students in various fields that include medicine, engineering and agriculture.
In his speech at the celebrations President Mugabe acknowledged that parties had engaged in violence in the past but called for reconciliation and tolerance and urged leaders to coerce people to join their parties.
The celebrations at the National Sports Stadium were attended by thousands of Zimbabweans.
Diplomats including those from countries hostile to Zimbabwe attended this year’s independence celebrations after boycotting previous festivities.
Online Reporter