Mugabe to spend 3 weeks in Far East

President Robert Mugabe is reportedly set to leave the country on another trip to Southeast Asia this week  hardly a month after returning from Singapore where he had gone for a medical check-up and to pick up his wife recovering from a surgical operation.

The trip, according to the Newsday, that will apparently end with a State visit to Japan, is scheduled to last up to three weeks as Mugabe will pass through several countries in that region for his frequent medical check-ups.  

He spent his annual leave in the region between December and January. But analysts yesterday said Mugabe's frequent absences from Zimbabwe could trigger a power vacuum in the country that could result in political instability.

Although Presidential spokesperson George Charamba would neither confirm nor deny the impending trip, government officials yesterday said Mugabe would make a stopover in Singapore for a medical check-up before proceeding to Japan.