Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe held a party reported to cost $250,000 to celebrate his 85th birthday, just days after the country asked its neighbors for $2 billion in aid to revive its economy.

Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai, now Zimbabwe’s prime minister, didn’t attend the celebration. His party said earlier today he would.

“The prime minister had other obligations and commitments today that took his time,” MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said in a phone interview.

The celebration, held in Chinhoyi, a provincial capital 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of the capital, Harare, comes just days after Zimbabwe asked the Southern African Development Community for $2 billion in aid.

“Holding such an event when so many Zimbabweans are in the grip of the worst poverty ever recorded in the country is insensitive and unwarranted,” University of Zimbabwe political scientist John Makumbe said in a telephone interview from Harare. “He should have had a small private party if he wanted to celebrate.”

In the 1990s, Zimbabwe was southern Africa’s second-biggest economy after neighboring South Africa and its biggest food exporter. Violent invasions of Zimbabwe’ predominantly white- owned commercial farms that were supported by Mugabe’s government have left 6.9 million Zimbabweans, almost half the population, dependent on emergency food aid.

Farm Invasions

Farmers’ organizations in the country today said a fresh spate of invasions is aimed at pushing the few remaining white farmers from their land. The country’s once-productive mining industry has also slumped, with most mines closed or surviving on care and maintenance programs. Manufacturing has also declined to less than 10 percent of its productive capacity due to shortages of electricity and foreign currency.

Zimbabwe’s state radio today quoted Mugabe as saying that there would be no turning back on land seizures by the government.

Zanu-PF and the MDC have fought a 10-year political skirmish for control of the southern African nation, with Zanu-PF exacting losses of about 400 MDC officials and supporters over the last decade. At least 193 MDC supporters were killed by Zanu-PF or “state agents” last year, the U.S. State Department said in a report yesterday.

The country’s state-controlled Herald said yesterday the 21st February Movement, a Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front youth group modeled on North Korea’s Young Pioneer Corps, had raised the money for the traditional celebration. Philip Chiyangwa, a businessman closely allied to Mugabe, donated $110,000, almost half the amount, the Harare- based newspaper said.

Zimbabwe, which has been ruled by Mugabe since 1980, has the world’s highest inflation rate, at 231 million percent when it was last officially calculated in July 2008.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Latham via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 28, 2009 12:23 EST