Britain joins outrage at Mugabe’s appointment as goodwill ambassador

THE British Government has joined international condemnation of the World Health Organisation’s appointment of Zimbabwe’s despotic leader Robert Mugabe as a ‘goodwill ambassador’.

The 93-year-old dictator attended a WHO meeting on non-communicable diseases in Uruguay last week, when director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, pictured below left, made the announcement.

Mugabe, below right, has been accused of personally causing a massive health crisis in his country through policies which have damaged people’s access to food, sanitation and healthcare.

A UK Government spokesman last night called his appointment ‘surprising and disappointing, particularly in light of the current US and EU sanctions against him’.

It has now taken the unusual step of directly raising the issue with Dr Ghebreyesus, an Ethiopian who became the organisation’s first African directorgeneral earlier this year. Last night, after widespread shock and condemnation, the WHO chief said he was ‘rethinking’ Mugabe’s appointment. In a tweet, Dr Ghebreyesus said: ‘I hear your concerns. Rethinking the approach in light of WHO values.’ Britain pays more than £20 million a year in membership fees to WHO, and many more millions as voluntary donations. Two dozen international organisations – including Cancer Research UK – issued a joint statement condemning Mugabe’s role, saying health officials were ‘shocked and deeply concerned’ and citing his ‘long track record of human rights violations’.