The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Washington

Africa must ensure that the people of Zimbabwe break free of President Robert Mugabe's "tyranny" to ensure stability in southern Africa, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday.

"In the Mugabe regime we see the page of history that Africa must turn, a leader for independence, which inherited a nation full of promise, but which has devolved into a tyranny that values nothing but power," Rice told an African investment forum in Washington. "It is hard to imagine how Africa will ever reach its full potential until all of its leaders are accountable to and respectful of the will of its people," Rice told the 2008 African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Forum. "Southern Africa will face perennial instability until the peaceful aspirations of all Zimbabweans are respected and reflected in their government.