Maravi

(NEWZIMBABWE) Mugabe holds talks with Senegal leader
Refuelling stop ... The Air Zimbabwe B767 on the runway at Léopold Sédar Senghor Airport
24/09/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe made a previously unpublicised stop in Senegal on Saturday, on his way to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York, New Zimbabwe.com has learnt.

Trudy Stevenson, Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Senegal, said local newspapers had published “speculative articles” about Mugabe’s brief stop at the Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport in Dakar, most of which were not accurate.

“President Robert Mugabe met with his Senegalese counterpart President Macky Sall and Prime Minister Aminata Touré. Contrary to a lot of the speculative articles about the visit, it was to honour him,” Ambassador Stevenson said.

Mugabe – who left Harare on Friday night – met with the two leaders for 40 minutes early Saturday while his chartered Air Zimbabwe B767 was being refuelled for the final leg of the flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

During their meeting - also attended by Senegal's ministers of defence and interior - Ambassador Stevenson said Sall and Toure had congratulated Mugabe on his recent re-election for a new five-yer term.

Mugabe's re-election has been endorsed by the African Union and SADC, but Western countries have aligned themselves with claims by the opposition that the elections were marred by irregularitie despite the prevailing peace.

Labels: ROBERT MUGABE, SENEGAL

posted by MrK @ 4:44 PM