Thousands gather for Mugabe's 84th birthday party

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2008

BEITBRIDGE, Zimbabwe (AFP) — Thousands of supporters of Zimbabwe's veteran leader Robert Mugabe gathered on Saturday for a three trillion Zim-dollar birthday bash in the southern border town of Beitbridge.

Mugabe is set to launch his campaign for a sixth term in power in a speech at the climax of his 84th birthday celebrations to boost his backers' morale, affected by a crumbling economy with hyperinflation at a whopping 100,000 percent in January and chronic shortages of basic commodities.

While Mugabe will seek to rally support at Beitbridge, the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is to launch its own manifesto for the joint presidential and parliamentary polls set for March 29, in the eastern town of Mutare.

Across the border from...