Mugabe Begins Another Term

President Robert Mugabe was sworn in for another six-year term Sunday and urged fellow Zimbabweans — and his African neighbors — to join his fight against Western imperialism.

Mugabe, 78, took the oath of office at the colonial State House mansion after being declared the winner of elections that many observers said were deeply flawed. A 21-gun salute sounded and four MiG fighter jets thundered overhead.

Mugabe won the March 9-11 election against challenger Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, who posed the most significant threat to Mugabe's 22 years of autocratic rule.

The government and Mugabe's ruling party have been widely accused of rigging votes, orchestrating state-backed political violence and abusing the nation's laws and constitution.

But Mugabe said Britain, Zimbabwe's former colonial power, and its "white allies" in the West were critical of the poll because Tsvangirai, their favored candidate, lost.

"But it is our people who decide, who must say so, not you, sirs, and not one person in 10 Downing Street," the official residence of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Mugabe said.

"That ugly head of racism we thought we had smashed, we have left it alive, it has risen again. A blow to the head and not the body of the monster is what we need," he said.

"Thanks to the people of Zimbabwe for loudly saying: Never again shall Zimbabwe be a colony. I thank them for their resolute anti-imperialist stand."

Mugabe led the nation to independence from Britain in 1980 and faced little dissent until recent years, when the nation's economy collapsed and political violence erupted.

Mugabe won the presidential vote with a disputed 56 percent of votes cast to Tsvangirai's 42 percent.

The 54-nation Commonwealth of Britain and its former colonies, which includes 19 African countries, were among international observers who condemned the elections for not adequately allowing for a free expression of will by the electors.

Mugabe banned British observers from the Commonwealth election mission.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said the election was marked by "numerous, profound irregularities" and that the outcome thwarted the will of the people.

But many African leaders supported Mugabe's election victory in what was seen as an effort to maintain regional stability and protect their own regimes.

Turning to regional leaders from Botswana, Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, South Africa and Zambia, Mugabe said his nation needed their continued support to fight what he called hostile international attention and "Mugabe-bashing" caused by his seizures of white-owned farms.

"When they aim at Zimbabwe it is not Zimbabwe alone. They have other countries in mind," he said.

Sanctions being considered to protest the election by the European Union and the United States were "contrived against us and shortages will affect everybody."

The U.S. and EU ambassadors in Zimbabwe were not invited to the inauguration and the opposition's 57 lawmakers stayed away.

South African deputy president Jacob Zuma represented South African President Thabo Mbeki.

Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo are scheduled to visit Harare on Monday.

The two, along with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, are members of a Commonwealth panel that will assess the election and recommend possible group action against Zimbabwe.

The panel is scheduled to meet in London on Tuesday.

Industrialized Commonwealth nations have called for Zimbabwe's expulsion for abusing the group's charter on democratic rights.