ETHIOPIA – Zimbabwe’s globe-trotting leader, President Robert Mugabe, has arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to attend the 18th Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) Summit which begins tomorrow.
The 91 year old was coming from Arusha, Tanzania, where he attended the third Africa-China Young People’s Forum. His latest trip comes amid growing criticism that his foreign jaunts have so far gobbled $10 million this year alone with no benefit to the country.
This year alone he has been in and out of the country eight times since January. Mugabe has been to the Far East three times this year. He has used US$10 million since January at a time government is battling to pay civil servants and grow the imploding economy.
Mugabe was met at the Bole International Airport by Industry and Commerce Minister Mike Bimha, Ambassador to the African Union Albert Chimbindi, Zimbabwean Ambassador to Zambia Gertrude Ratidzo Takawira, several senior government officials from Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, officers, from the COMESA Secretariat and Zimbabwean Embassy officials.
The COMESA Summit will see the hand-over of the COMESA chairmanship from DRC President Joseph Kabila to Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.
Egypt will this year host the Tripartite meeting of SADC, the East African Community and COMESA late in the year. The theme for this year’s COMESA Summit is ‘Inclusive and Sustainable Industrialisation.’
