Zimbabwean president calls for tolerance of different political views

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has called for tolerance of different political views and asked the opposition parties in Parliament to work for national development. At the traditional New Year's reception at the State House, Mugabe regretted the loss of lives due to political violence and said this should not be allowed to happen in the future.
Mugabe said, "After the June elections, we constituted a government which is now in power. We now have a vigorous House of Assembly and I am sure the goings-on there are now familiar to you,. " "That kind of friendship and cooperation is what we want to see, even when you have different ideas, " he said.

However, the president lashed out at the failure by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to respect the views of the people by advocating his violent removal from office when his term of office has not expired. He criticized the MDC for advocating mass stay aways and strikes, which tended to destroy property and affected most the people who lived in the high-density suburbs.
Mugabe described 2000 as a year of hardships and endurance owing to fuel shortages. He said the fuel shortages would soon be a thing of the past following the government moves to allow oil companies to import fuel and distribute to the consumer using state infrastructure.
The economic problems the country faced during the year have been due to low mineral prices on the international market and sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by Britain as a result of land redistribution.