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Robert Mugabe calls Donald Trump 'giant golden Goliath' who threatens to make other countries 'extinct'

Zimbabwean leader tells US President to 'blow your trumpet for peace'

Benjamin Kentish
Saturday 23 September 2017 01:03 BST
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'Some of us were embarrassed, if not frightened' by Trump speech, says autocratic leader
'Some of us were embarrassed, if not frightened' by Trump speech, says autocratic leader (AFP/Getty)

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Robert Mugabe has called Donald Trump a “giant gold Goliath” who threatens to make other countries “extinct”.

Addressing the UN General Assembly, the Zimbabwean President told Mr Trump to “blow your trumpet” for peace.

It came two days after Mr Trump’s own address to the UN, in which he strongly condemned a number of countries, including North Korea, Iran and Venezuela.

Mr Mugabe, 93, appeared to have fallen asleep during Mr Trump’s address earlier in the week. Images showed him with his head resting on his hand and his eyes seemingly closed.

However, he appears to have had heard enough of the US President’s speech to criticise him in his own, comparing Mr Trump to the biblical figure of Goliath, a giant who had attempted to destroy the Israelites before being killed by David with a slingshot.

Mr Mugabe said: “Some of us were embarrassed, if not frightened, by what appeared to be the return of the biblical giant gold Goliath. Are we having a return of Goliath to our midst, who threatens the extinction of other countries?

“May I say to the United States President, Mr Trump, please blow your trumpet. Blow your trumpet in a musical way towards the values of unity, peace, cooperation, togetherness, dialogue, which we have always stood for.”

The Zimbabwean autocrat said the US' approach to other countries should be based on those values rather than “the promise on our damnation”.

Mr Mugabe has been a fierce critic of Western intervention and claimed in his speech that Zimbabwe had defeated the “monster of imperialism”.

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