Canada has withdrawn from the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) in protest over Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s recognition as a tourism ambassador by the world body.
This follows the presentation of an open letter to President Mugabe and his Zambian counterpart Michael Sata last week after they signed a tripartite agreement to co-host the UNWTO general assembly in Victoria Falls in August next year.
Canada’s Foreign Affairs minister John Baird told his country’s House of Commons that the Zimbabwean leader’s appointment “symbolises what is wrong with the UN”.
He said Canada would withdraw from the UNWTO this month.
But the UN body insisted President Mugabe had not been made an ambassador as claimed, in a statement released on Thursday
“The receiving of the Open Letter implies no legal commitment or official title attribution to the country or the recipient,” the agency said.
President Mugabe’s alleged appointment has also dominated world news headlines, with many newspapers saying the 88-year-old leader was not fit for the role, because of his human rights record.
He is currently under US and European Union travel ban for alleged electoral fraud.
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