Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe accused his political rivals of trying to use constitutional reforms to get rid of him, but warned that his ZANU-PF party would reject any changes threatening its future, the Sunday Mail newspaper reported.

Mugabe, who turns 88 on Tuesday and was forced into a coalition government following disputed elections in 2008, is seeking to extend his 32 years in power in an early poll that he wants held this year, a year ahead of schedule.

In an interview with the state-owned newspaper, Mugabe charged that lawyers hired to draft a new national charter and rivals from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had "erred" by including issues not gathered from a public survey.

No gay rights
Asked about clauses in the first draft that could bar him from running for another term, Mugabe said although he had not yet read the document, such a proposal and the inclusion of gay rights would not be accepted by his party.

"The issue is that what is not the view of the people and not in the present constitution or has not been discussed, we will reject," he said.

"Such a constitution would be thrown out by ZANU-PF. We would not accept that. They erred if it is like that," he said, branding the MDC cowards for trying to exclude him from the polls.

Constitution
A draft constitution published early this month trims presidential powers and limits terms to a maximum of 10 years, barring Mugabe who has been in office since the southern African country's independence from
Britain in 1980.

Mugabe has been nominated as his ZANU-PF party's candidate and intends to run in an election he wants held in 2012. Under the power-sharing deal with Tsvangirai, elections must be held by next year with a new constitution drawn up ahead of the poll.

Barking dogs
A referendum on the new constitution is expected to be held later this year.

In the interview, Mugabe mocked Tsvangirai and the MDC as impotent for protesting his recent reappointment of security commanders accused by the opposition of blocking democratic reforms.

"We don't pay attention to that because they are like barking dogs with no bite, and every village has such dogs," he said in the local Shona language.

source: Reuters