Mugabe allowed to address world summit on information in Tunis

By Tererai Karimakwenda
16 November 2005

The state controlled Herald newspaper reports that Robert Mugabe arrived in Tunis early Tuesday morning and was expected to join several other heads of state and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Using yet another excuse to travel despite the targeted sanctions banning him from doing so, Mugabe is attending the World Summit on the Information Society which opened in Tunis Wednesday. He was due to address the delegation. Zimbabweans who have been starved of information because of oppressive legislation by Mugabe’s ruling party will definitely see this as another slap in the face.

Professor Muna Ndulo, who is chairman of Cornell University’s Institute of Black Studies in Ithaca, New York, and has worked at The United Nations, said it is very unfortunate that African bloc delegates choose to nominate Mugabe to speak at these events. He said this sends the wrong signal that what he is doing in Zimbabwe is acceptable. Instead, said Professor Ndulo, they should show their displeasure at his oppressive policies. Supporting Mugabe this way does not help the suffering people in Zimbabwe.

In other developments at the World Summit on the Information Society, it was decided The United States is to stay in control of the internet despite calls for a global body to manage it. In a deal agreed before Wednesday’s opening of the summit in Tunis, negotiators voted to reject proposals for an oversight body controlled by the UN. Countries such as China and Iran had called for change to the way in which the internet is governed. The internet is currently governed by a California-based non-profit organisation which answers to the US government.