(FILES) This photo taken April 2, 2005 shows Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe speaking at a press conference at the State House in Harare. An official in Mugabe's ZANU-PF party said April 1, 2008 that Mugabe, who has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980, is ready to step down after he accepted he failed to win the country's presidential election. The 84-year-old Mugabe, Africa's oldest leader, has blamed the economic woes on the European Union and the United States, which imposed sanctions on his inner circle after he was accused of rigging his 2002 re-election. AFP PHOTO / ALEXANDER JOE (Photo credit should read ALEXANDER JOE/AFP/Getty Images)
