Shock as Zimbabwe’s Mugabe named WHO ‘goodwill ambassador’
The 93-year-old has long been criticised for going overseas for medical treatment as his country’s economy falls apart, and he faces US sanctions over his government’s human rights abuses
Shock and condemnation continued on Saturday after Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe was named a “goodwill ambassador” for the World Health Organisation by the agency’s first African leader.
The 93-year-old Mugabe, the world’s oldest head of state, has long been criticised at home for going overseas for medical treatment as Zimbabwe’s once prosperous economy falls apart. Mugabe also faces United States sanctions over his government’s human rights abuses.
“The decision to appoint Robert Mugabe as a WHO goodwill ambassador is deeply disappointing and wrong,” said Dr Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, a major British charitable foundation. “Robert Mugabe fails in every way to represent the values WHO should stand for.”
Ireland’s health minister, Simon Harris, called the appointment “offensive, bizarre”.
“Not the Onion,” tweeted the head of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, in a reference to the satirical news site.
With Mugabe on hand, WHO director general Tedros Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia announced the appointment at a conference in Uruguay this week on non-communicable diseases.