AU want Mugabe to have second term as chairman

African ambassadors and African Union (AU) commissioners based  in Ethiopia are reportedly pushing for 91 year old President Robert Mugabe to have a second term as the  African body leader.

 They claim that Mugabe has outstanding leadership qualities.

Mugabe  is due to hand over the AU chair to Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno at the 26th Summit in Ethiopia later this week.

 According to Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs chairperson,  Zanu PF's  Kindness Paradza  who led a Zimbabwean delegation to Ethiopia recently on a fact finding mission and reported on his return that Mugabe's leadership is admired by the AU staff.

"The majority of African ambassadors in Addis Ababa and AU commissioners had a consensus that if it was possible, President Mugabe would be given a second term as chairman or assume any other supreme role to fulfill the Pan-African vision of the continental body," he said.

Paradza said Mugabe was credited for successfully spearheading a number of initiatives which brought back the AU union on the world map in areas such as health where he chaired the Ebola high level conference to curb the epidemic, the Sino-Africa Summit and led the AU to effectively deal with conflicts arising in Africa.

However, his tenure has been  characterised by such big problems as xenophobia in South Africa, political unrest in Swaziland, as well as the general instability of the socio-political situations in countries such as Zimbabwe and Lesotho.

More unrest emerged also on the African continent where Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza refused to step down and instead amended the country's constitution to allow him to stand for elections for another term.

Terror organisations like Boko Haram have also been a major problem on the continent.