Mugabe calls for continental president
Publish date: 22 January 2013
Issue Number: 512
Diary: IBA Legalbrief Africa
Category: Africa Focus
A report on the News24 site notes that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe believes the forthcoming African Union summit should discuss the appointment of a president of Africa to foster unity among Africans.
The report states Mugabe said after meeting President Thomas Boni Yayi of Benin in Harare, such a move 'would also ensure that member states adhere to the founding principles of the continental body'. 'Yes, we need a president for Africa,' Mugabe is quoted in the report as saying. 'That is what we are going to discuss at the AU summit.' The proposal to set up a United States of Africa was first made by former 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, the report notes. Full report on the News24 site
