The UN’s World Tourism Organisation has caused uproar at its move to honour controversial Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as a “leader for tourism”, reported the Guardian.
The 88-year old Mugabe stands accused of ethnic cleansing, electoral fraud, voter intimidation, controlling media, terrorising his opposition and has several international sanctions placed against him.
The decision has left human rights campaigners astounded, with Kumbi Muchemwa, a spokesman for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), saying,
The 88-year old Mugabe stands accused of ethnic cleansing, electoral fraud, voter intimidation, controlling media, terrorising his opposition and has several international sanctions placed against him.
The decision has left human rights campaigners astounded, with Kumbi Muchemwa, a spokesman for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), saying,
"I can't see any justification for the man being an 'ambassador'. An ambassador for what? The man has blood on his hands. Do they want tourists to see those bloody hands?
"Robert Mugabe is under international sanctions, so how do you have an international tourism ambassador who can't travel to other countries?”
"The UN is losing credibility in this process. Does it think people should go to a country where the law is not obeyed? An MDC activist was murdered last Saturday. Zimbabwe is doing things which don't encourage the arrival of tourists."Adding to the criticism, British MP Kate Hoey, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Zimbabwe, said,
"For a man who has destroyed his country's infrastructure and cynically engineered hunger to be an 'ambassador' for tourism is disgraceful – particularly as he has been personally responsible for the downward spiral of the economy and destroyed the hotel, travel and tourism industry in the process."Dewa Mavhinga from the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, added,
"It boggles the mind how the UN could appoint Mugabe as an ambassador of any sort. I don't think he's an appropriate person. It sends the wrong message to Mugabe that he is now acceptable to the international community.”Politics professor at the University of Zimbabwe, John Makumbe, also joined the condemnation, stating
"It undermines the reputation of the UNWTO as being detached from the reality on the ground in terms of human rights violations and political instability."See the full report from the Guardian here.
