Zimbabwe leaders split over visit of Iran's Ahmadinejad

[pampango]

Source: BBC

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due to arrive in Zimbabwe, despite protests by the MDC party of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.

The MDC has called Mr Ahmadinejad a "war-monger, a trampler of human rights an executioner". Mr Tsvangirai was due to visit Europe for talks this week on getting the sanctions lifted but his trip was hit by the volcanic ash flight ban.

Mr Ahmadinejad has been invited by President Robert Mugabe, who has been hit by Western sanctions. Mr Ahmadinejad is due to open a trade fair in the second city Bulawayo on Friday, which the MDC compared to "inviting a mosquito to cure malaria".

However, Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, an ally of President Mugabe, said Zimbabwe would benefit from the trip by signing several trade and co-operation agreements with the oil-rich nation. After Zimbabwe, Mr Ahmadinejad is due to visit Uganda, where oil has recently been discovered.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8636804.stm

[nyy1998]

1. I fear for Uganda, the natural resource curse will probably

hit that country.