By Thelma Chikwanha
HARARE – Serial traveller, President Robert Mugabe whose penchant for travelling is now legendary despite being 91, will have visited three countries in seven days by the time he returns home this week.
Mugabe left for Nigeria last week for the inauguration of Muhammadi Buhari as the nation’s president but instead of returning home, he travelled to Equatorial Guinea to meet his friend, Theodore Nguema Mbasogo.
Tomorrow, Mugabe will be in Sudan for the inauguration of Omar Hassan al Bashir as the country’s president following his electoral victory in a poll that was boycotted by the opposition who dismissed it as a “political charade”.
Bashir, who won by at least 94 percent of the votes, will see him extending his 26-year rule by another five years.
The Sudanese strongman is set to appear before the International Criminal Court for war crimes.
This latest visit comes as Zimbabwe’s economy is in comatose with government failing to meet its wage bill. Social service delivery is literally at a standstill while industry and commerce is also crippled by a biting liquidity crunch.
Mugabe, who is the current chair of regional bloc Sadc as well as the African Union, is also expected to attend the continental body’s summit due to be held in South Africa from June 7-15.
Pedzisayi Ruhanya, a media and democracy scholar, said it was not surprising that Mugabe would be attending Bashir’s inauguration.
“Mugabe is a friend of the Sudanese president and they have a lot in common and share a lot of leadership practices. They both run authoritarian regimes,” Ruhanya said.
The Sudanese leader stands accused of masterminding the genocide in Dafur where Sudanese forces and government-sponsored militia attacked innocent civilians. Daily News