Africa needs one President - Mugabe

Cape Town – Zimbabwean Pres- ident Robert Mugabe says the forthcoming African Union summit should discuss the appointment of a president of Africa to foster unity among Africans, a report said on Wednesday.

Addressing journalists after meet- ing with President ThomasBoniYayi of Benin in Harare, Mugabe said such a move “would also ensure that member states adhere to the founding principles of the continen- tal body”,Newsday online reported.
“Yes, we need a president for Africa,” Mugabe said. “That iswhat we are going to discuss at the AU summit. Africa is not a united con-
tinent. We are not at the stage our founding fathers wanted us to be when the organ was formed.”
Mugabe said the AU had failed to integrate Africans, with some seen in the context of Anglophones and others Francophones.
The proposal to set up a United States of Africa was firstmade by the slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 1999 as a way of ending the continent’s conflicts, but it failed to secure enough support from his African counterparts with some suspecting Gaddafi wanted to rule Africa.
Yayi who is the outgoing AU chairperson said he was in Zimba-
bwe to discuss the challengesAfrica was facing as a continent and to get advice on ways to end conflict, in countries like the Democratic Re- public of Congo, Mali and Central AfricanRepublic, among others.
Meanwhile, rowdy supporters of President Mugabe on Wednesday prevented the United States ambas- sador to Zimbabwe from addressing citizens in the eastern city of Mutare, the US embassy said.
Bruce Wharton was set to deliver remarks in the city, about 265km east of the capital Harare, when he was blocked by supporters of Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party, including war veterans. -Nampa-Sapa-AFP

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