Mugabe removed as WHO goodwill ambassador after global outrage

"I have listened carefully to all who have expressed their concerns, and heard the different issues that they have raised, as a result I have decided to rescind the appointment," WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe addresses a meeting of his ruling ZANU PF party's youth league in Harare, Zimbabwe on October 7, 2017.(Reuters)
Reuters

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe addresses a meeting of his ruling ZANU PF party's youth league in Harare, Zimbabwe on October 7, 2017.(Reuters)

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has been removed as a WHO goodwill ambassador, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Sunday following an outrage among donors and rights groups at his appointment.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who made the appointment at a high-level meeting on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Uruguay on Wednesday, said in a statement that he had listened to those expressing concerns.

"Over the last few days, I have reflected on my appointment of H.E. President Robert Mugabe as WHO Goodwill Ambassador for NCDs in Africa. As a result I have decided to rescind the appointment," Tedros said in a statement posted on his Twitter account.

"I have listened carefully to all who have expressed their concerns, and heard the different issues that they have raised," he added. 

TRT World's Philip Owira reports.  

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International outrage

The 93-year-old Mugabe, the world’s oldest head of state, has long been criticised for his government’s human rights abuses. 

Mugabe was also slated at home for going overseas for medical treatment while Zimbabwe’s once-prosperous economy falls apart. 

The US called the appointment of Mugabe by WHO’s first African leader “disappointing.”

“This appointment clearly contradicts the United Nations ideals of respect for human rights and human dignity,” the State Department said.

Health and human rights leaders chimed in. “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.” ‘’Mugabe corruption decimates Zimbabwe health care,” tweeted the head of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth.

Tedros, a former Ethiopian official who became WHO’s first African director-general this year, said Mugabe could use the role “to influence his peers in his region” on the issue. 

He described Zimbabwe as “a country that places universal health coverage and health promotion at the center of its policies.” 

Two dozen organisations — including the World Heart Federation and Cancer Research UK — released a statement slamming the appointment, saying health officials were “shocked and deeply concerned” and citing his “long track record of human rights violations.”

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