Zimbabwe's Mugabe to UK: 'Put out your own fires'

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HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe tells Britain “to put out your own fires” and to stop interfering in his southern African nation.

Mugabe spoke Tuesday at a military parade honoring Zimbabwe’s armed forces. He said “London is burning,” referring to three days of arson, crime and looting in the capital of the former colonial power. He also referred to recent financial upheavals in the United States as “problems” the country should attend to.

He insisted sanctions by Western nations have stalled training and modernization programs in the military. Economic restrictions on Mugabe and his party elite were imposed to protest human rights violations implicating the police and military in recent years.

Mugabe said, “We don’t have any fires here. Please leave us alone.”

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.