Interviews, Interview with Financial Times, 2007-10-04 http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d8a07e28-72a3-11dc-b7ff-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check1/
“Mugabe fought and liberated his country from colonists. But I am here as a guest of the Zimbabwe people. I am not a personal guest of Mugabe. And veterans of the liberation struggle are well aware of this fact.”
As quoted in "Mengistu blames Meles for helping Eritrea at UN to split Ethiopia: Mengistu Haile-Mariam speaks", in Jimma Times (30 July 2010) http://www.jimmatimes.com/article/Latest_News/Latest_News/Mengistu_blames_Meles_for_helping_Eritrea_at_UN_to_split_Ethiopia/33629
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Mengistu Haile Mariam 18
Former dictator of Ethiopia 1937Related quotes
Mugabe's hold on Africans, BBC News, 25 August 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6960506.stm,
Praising Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as a freedom fighter, as quoted in "Chavez's colourful quotations" at BBC News (12 November 2007) http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7090600.stm
2004
As quoted in "Democracy? It was better under apartheid, says Helen Suzman" https://web.archive.org/web/20120901223952/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1462042/Democracy-It-was-better-under-apartheid-says-Helen-Suzman.html (15 May 2004), by Jane Flanagan, The Telegraph
2000s
“I am not a liberator. Liberators do not exist. It exists when people liberate themselves.”
Statement in Mexico (1958); as quoted in Kaplan AP World History 2005 (2004) edited by the Kaplan staff, p. 240
" Why All Three South-African Presidents Supported Robert Mugabe https://townhall.com/columnists/ilanamercer/2017/11/30/why-all-three-southafrican-presidents-supported-robert-mugabe-n2416210," Townhall.com, November 30, 2017
2010s, 2017
Interview in El Mercurio (1981)
1980s and later
Context: Well, I would say that, as long-term institutions, I am totally against dictatorships. But a dictatorship may be a necessary system for a transitional period. At times it is necessary for a country to have, for a time, some form or other of dictatorial power. As you will understand, it is possible for a dictator to govern in a liberal way. And it is also possible for a democracy to govern with a total lack of liberalism. Personally I prefer a liberal dictator to democratic government lacking liberalism. My personal impression — and this is valid for South America — is that in Chile, for example, we will witness a transition from a dictatorial government to a liberal government. And during this transition it may be necessary to maintain certain dictatorial powers, not as something permanent, but as a temporary arrangement.