Mugabe irritated by criticism from Norway / Mugabe var synlig irritert da Erik Solheim la forutsetninger for bistand til det fattige landet

Source:nrk.no (Norwegian)

Note that there's also a video on the site - it's in Norwegian but the meeting between the two and the interview afterward was conducted in English so it's easy enough to follow along.

Utviklingsminister Erik Solheim (SV) er den første vestlige ministeren som fikk møte den omstridte presidenten på sju år.

Development Minister Erik Solheim is the first western minister to have met with the controversial president in seven years.

Norge er klar til å gjenoppta bistanden, sier Solheim.

Norway is ready to resume the aid, said Solheim.

– Men det forutsetter at landet holder orden i eget hus. Jeg har sagt til Mugabe at han må innfri kravene om ytringsfrihet og større frihet for mediene, noe dette møte åpner for, og at han må løslate politiske fanger, fortsatte Solheim.

- But this is under the assumption that the country is keeping order in its own house. I have said to Mugabe that he must fulfill the requirements on freedom of expression and greater freedom for the media, something that this meeting was held for, and that he must release political prisoners, continued Solheim.

Men da ristet Mugabe synlig irritert på hodet.

But then Mugabe shook his head, visibly irritated.

Mugabe og hans parti ZANU-PF nekter for at det det er eller noen gang har vært politiske fanger i Zimbabwe.

Mugabe and his party (ZANU-PF) deny that there are or ever have been political prisoners in Zimbabwe.

- Vi har pressefrihet. Men det må jo være noen regler også. Vi kan ikke bare åpne opp for enhver som vil skrive skandaløse ting. Så hva skal vi med mediereformer? sier presidenten.

- We have press freedom. But there must be some rules there as well. We can't just open up for anyone who wants to write scandalous things. So what will we do with media reform? said the president.

- Dersom Vesten ikke aksepterer at vi er en suveren stat, vil vi ikke ha noe med dem å gjøre. De kan bare henge seg, sier han.

- If the West doesn't accept that we are a sovereign state, then we won't have anything to do with them. They can hang themselves, he said.

And then in English in the article:

«If they don't accept it, yes of course, they can go hang. If they haven't hung since then. Tell them I still want them to hang.»