Mugabe, Mbasogo meet

Visiting Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has held closed door meetings with African Union chair President Robert Mugabe.

The two have concurred to use the forthcoming AU summit to lobby other leaders to push for the United Nations Security Council reforms so that Africa can also have a permanent seat.

The meetings were also attended by the First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe and Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

The meetings which took several hours touched on several issues, chief among them the forthcoming AU summit to be held in Addis Ababa.

Emerging from the meetings, President Mbasogo challenged the current crop of African leaders to respect and embrace President Mugabe's visionary leadership in the fight for the reform of the UN Security Council so that Africa will have veto powers in the international body.

President Mugabe says the debate on the UN Security Council reform is long overdue and it is high time African leaders take advantage of the forthcoming summit to bring finality to the issue of Africa's veto powers in the world body.

Mugabe also challenged African journalists to tell the positive African stories instead of promoting western agendas at the expense of the hard-won African independence.

The two presidents also discussed socio-economic and political issues prevailing in their respective countries.