(SKY news) Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe , has hit out at Britain and the USA, accusing them of "rank hypocrisy" in calling for human rights.
Mugabe speaks at the UN GAThe leader of the struggling African nation also criticised Britain over its dealings with the UN during the invasion of Iraq.
In a fiery speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Mr Mugabe said of US President George Bush: "His hands drip with innocent blood of many nationalities.
"He kills in Iraq. He kills in Afghanistan. And this is supposed to be our master on human rights?"
Mr Mugabe , 83, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, was speaking the day after Mr Bush accused the Zimbabwean government as being "tyrannical" and an "assault on its people".
"What rank hypocrisy," the Zimbabwean leader said of Mr Bush's speech.
He said the US president had imprisoned and tortured people in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and at Guantanamo , the US military prison in Cuba where al Qaeda suspects are held.
Mr Mugabe also argued that Mr Bush and his ally Tony Blair "rode roughshod" over the United Nations when they went to war in Iraq, yet now Mr Bush was asking the world body to expand its role in Iraq.
"Almighty Bush is now coming back to the UN for a rescue package because his nose is bloodied. Yet he dares to lecture us on tyranny," he said.
Zimbabwe is grappling with the world's highest inflation rate of more than 6,600%, shortages of foreign exchange, fuel and food and rocketing unemployment that has left many people unable to buy even basic foodstuffs.
South African Nobel peace prize winner Desmond Tutu said he was "devastated" by the human rights abuses of Mugabe's government and he struggled to understand how Mugabe had changed so drastically after steering the former British colony to independence.