WHO rethinking its Mugabe move
UK, Canada and US criticise Zim leader as goodwill ambassador
THE head of theWorld Health Organisation said on Saturday that he was rethinking his decision to name Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe a goodwill ambassador, as global outrage over the move mounted.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the directorof the UN health agency, had this week asked Zimbabwe’s 93-yearold authoritarian leader to serve in the role to help tackle non-communicable diseases, such as heart attacks, strokes and asthma across Africa.
The decision triggered confusion and anger among key WHO member states and activists who noted that Zimbabwe’s health care system, like many of its public services, has collapsed under Mugabe’s regime.
“I’m listening. I hear your concerns. Rethinking the approach in light of WHO values. I will issue a statement as soon as possible,” Tedros, a former Ethiopian health minister, said on Twitter.
Tedros took charge of WHO in July, becoming the first African to lead the powerful UN agency.
In announcing the appointment in Uruguay’s capital this week, Tedros had praised Zimbabwe as “a country that places universal health coverage and health promotion at the centre of its policies to provide health care to all”.
Britain, Canada and the US on Saturday joined the widening chorus of critics of the decision.
“This appointment clearly contradicts the UN’s ideals of respect for human rights and human dignity,” the US State Department said.
Britain said the move was surprising and disappointing, particularly in light of the US and EU sanctions against him.
And Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau termed the appointment absolutely unacceptable, and said he thought it was a bad April Fool’s joke.
Zimbabwean activist and human rights lawyer Doug Coltart said on Twitter that a man who flies to Singapore for treatment because he has destroyed Zimbabwe’s health sector, is WHO’s goodwill ambassador.
Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980, is in increasingly fragile health and makes regular trips abroad for medical treatment.
“Mugabe doesn’t trust Zimbabwe health care he destroyed (he travels abroad), but @WHO’s Tedros names him ambass the head of Human Rights Watch Ken Roth added in a tweet.
UN Watch, a group primarily known for defending Israel at the world body, called the decision sickening.
“Amid reports of ongoing human rights abuses, the tyrant of Zimbabwe is the last person who should be legitimised by a UN position of any kind,” the group’s executive director Hillel Neuer said.
WHO had earlier on Saturday pointed to Zimbabwe’s record on tobacco, NCDs and Tedro’s desire to engage senior politicians as justifications for the Mugabe honour.
“Dr Tedros has frequently talked of his determination to build a global movement to promote high-level political leadership for health,” spokesman Christian Lindmeier said in an e-mail.
“Zimbabwe has ratified the WHO FCTC [Framework Convention on Tobacco Control] in 2014 and the government has launched a levy fund for NCDs to generate revenues for health promotion, including NCD prevention and control.” — AFP