News / National
Mugabe aborts foreign trip at the last minute
14 Jul 2015 at 06:53hrs | Views
PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has missed a major African Union (AU) conference in Ethiopia after he reportedly cancelled the trip at the last minute.
Mugabe returned home on Sunday night from the United Nations in New York instead of proceeding to Addis Ababa for the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD3) that opened yesterday.
The reasons for the cancellation were not clear last night, but there were reports that the frequent foreign trips were taking a toll on the 91-year-old leader.
The AU conference, that ends on Thursday - organised by the United Nations - was described as important by the continental body.
"The AU will be participating at the highest level, represented by the President of Zimbabwe, current chairperson of the Union, HE Robert Mugabe, and the chairperson of the AU Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma," the AU had said in statement ahead of the conference.
Dlamini-Zuma's opening speech yesterday also referred to Mugabe in the salutations.
A Foreign Affairs ministry official confirmed that Mugabe had cancelled the trip to Ethiopia.
"He has cancelled, but we have not been given any reasons," the official said.
Mugabe returned home on Sunday night from the United Nations in New York instead of proceeding to Addis Ababa for the Third International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD3) that opened yesterday.
The reasons for the cancellation were not clear last night, but there were reports that the frequent foreign trips were taking a toll on the 91-year-old leader.
The AU conference, that ends on Thursday - organised by the United Nations - was described as important by the continental body.
"The AU will be participating at the highest level, represented by the President of Zimbabwe, current chairperson of the Union, HE Robert Mugabe, and the chairperson of the AU Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma," the AU had said in statement ahead of the conference.
Dlamini-Zuma's opening speech yesterday also referred to Mugabe in the salutations.
A Foreign Affairs ministry official confirmed that Mugabe had cancelled the trip to Ethiopia.
"He has cancelled, but we have not been given any reasons," the official said.
Source - newsday
