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GHANA’S former President Jerry Rawlings has blasted France for questioning African leaders’ decision to elect President Robert Mugabe as the African Union chairman. France, along with its European allies and the United States tried — without success — to scupper President Mugabe’s ascension to the top post in January, issuing veiled threats on the basis that they accounted for over 60 percent of the AU budget.
After the humiliation, French President Francois Hollande reportedly sent a delegation to Francophone countries querying their decision to elect President Mugabe.
Speaking during a meeting with former Mozambique leader, Joachim Chissano, Rawlings said he was shocked by Hollande’s move.
He said: “And when they (France and allies) are told that Mugabe is a man we’re proud of because he has a historical memory of where we come from, to remind us of what we should be doing and where we should be going, then their names are mentioned by Hollande as African heads of questionable character.”
President Chissano was in Ghana at the invitation of the University of Development Studies (UDS) to deliver a series of lectures.
Rawlings said African leaders had been silent for too long on “painful issues”, adding that there was need for bold statesmen to stand up against puppetry which countered African interests.
Online Reporter