Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe addresses world leaders during the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday in New York. Michael Nagle / Getty Images via Agence France-Presse

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on Wednesday the death of Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi was as tragic as that of US Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens, as he delivered a scathing critique of US, UN and NATO actions.

Speaking firmly, the 88-year-old president accused the United States of "rushing to suck oil from Iraq" when it invaded the country in 2003 on the erroneous grounds that it possessed weapons of mass destruction.

He said the UN Security Council had allowed itself to be "abused" last year by authorizing "all necessary measures" - diplomatic code for military intervention - in Lybia in a NATO operation that eventually toppled Gadhafi's government and led to his death at the hands of rebels.

Speaking with deliberate irony, Mugabe opened his address to the UN General Assembly by praising as "most glowing and most moving" a speech by US President Barack Obama on Tuesday in which he rued Stevens' death.

Stevens and three other Americans were killed during what Washington has called a "terrorist" attack on the US mission in Benghazi on Sept 11. The assault forced the evacuation of US personnel from the eastern city that was the hub for the Libyan rebel movement.

"I am sure we were all moved, we all agree, that it was a tragic death indeed and we condemn it," said Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980 and is among Africa's longest-serving leaders.

"As we in spirit join the US in condemning that death, shall the US also join us in condemning that barbaric death of the head of state of Libya - Gadhafi? It was a loss, a great loss, to Africa, a tragic loss to Africa."

'A brutal hunt'

Mugabe accused the United States and NATO, the 28-member Western security alliance whose airstrikes helped Libyan rebels defeat Gadhafi's forces, of acting under false pretenses.

"The mission was strictly to protect civilians, but it turned out that there was a hunt, a brutal hunt, of Gadhafi and his family," Mugabe said. "In a very dishonest manner we saw ... Chapter 7 being used now as a weapon to rout a whole family."

Chapter 7 of the UN Charter allows the UN Security Council to authorize actions ranging from diplomatic and economic sanctions to military intervention.

"Bombs were ... thrown about in a callous manner and quite a good many civilians died. Was that the protection that they had sought under Chapter 7 of the Charter?

"So the death of Gadhafi must be seen in the same tragic manner as the death of Chris Stevens. We condemn both of them."

The 88-year-old firebrand critic of the West told the UN General Assembly that NATO's "military hegemony" in Libya showed how the alliance's members are "inspired by the arrogant belief that they are the most powerful among us".

The African Union's peacemaking efforts in Libya were "defied, ignored and humiliated," he added.

"May we urge the international community to collectively nip this dangerous and unwelcome development before it festers," he told world leaders.

The Security Council ignores attempts to peacefully end disputes, Mugabe said.

"In contrast there appears to be an insatiable appetite for war, embargoes, sanctions and other punitive actions," he said.

Mugabe also said the UN's "responsibility to protect" concept had been "seriously abused" and trespassed on the sovereignty of individual states.

Reuters-AFP