After a decade of bloodshed, sacrifice and suffering, Zimbabweans erupted in joy and jubilation — emotions almost extinct after 29 years of President Mugabe's misrule — as Morgan Tsvangirai was sworn in as Prime Minister yesterday.

Hours after the ceremony that broke Mr Mugabe's long monopoly on power a huge and euphoric throng poured into a stadium in Harare to hail the man to whom they are looking — perhaps prematurely — for liberation from so much hunger, violence and repression. They sang, danced and brazenly flaunted the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) hats and T-shirts that they would have kept well hidden before yesterday. They roared their approval as Mr Tsvangirai promised the food, jobs and political freedoms that they have been denied for a generation.

“For too long our people's hopes for a bright and prosperous future have been betrayed,” he declared, in a speech that was a stinging indictment of Mr Mugabe's disastrous record. “Instead of hope their days have been filled with starvation, disease and fear. A culture of entitlement and impunity has brought our nation to the brink of a dark abyss. This must end today.”

The huge, exuberant rally offered a stark contrast to the joyless ceremony at State House hours earlier, where Mr Mugabe had sourly administered the oath of office to the man whom his thugs have repeatedly beaten, imprisoned and attempted to assassinate.

CONNECTEZ-VOUS AU MONDE !

LISEZ LA PRESSE INTERNATIONALE.

Puisez l'actualité à la meilleure source, celle de NewsCenter, premier ODP français

Quels que soient le lieu et la langue, mettez l'information dans votre poche!

Renseignement : FranceWeb