Zimbabwe demands apologies after diplomatic walk-out following Mugabe’s “go to hell” imploration

The three Western envoys had left in protest after Mugabe had attacked Western nations, claiming they should "go to hell" for interfering in his country's affairs. US Ambassador Charles Ray insisted that he had left the ceremony because he had been "very disappointed" with the Zimbabwean President’s conduct. He had, “nothing” to apologise to Mugabe form, Ray insisted. "When America is treated in the manner it was treated on Sunday, I will react,” he was quoted as saying. In his funeral oration on Sunday, Robert Mugabe had attacked international sanctions on Zimbabwe. “They say 'remove so and so' – of course, they mean 'Mugabe must go before we can assist you'," he had lamented. "To hell with them. Hell, hell, hell with them whoever told them they are above the people of Zimbabwe that they decide what Zimbabwe should be and by who it should be ruled,” he had thundered. Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said in a statement that the envoys' decision to walk out was "unacceptable". "Your conduct was therefore very disrespectful to our national heroes' shrine, the heroine who was being honoured and his excellency the president," he claimed. Sabina Mugabe, the president's younger sister, had died in the capital Harare at the age of 76, five years after suffering a stroke. While she had been declared a national heroine by ruling party ZANU-PF, others had accused her of benefiting from Zimbabwe's controversial land reform programme and encouraging the violent invasion of white-owned farms.