WHO chief selects Zimbabwe’s Mugabe as ‘goodwill ambassador’
GENEVA — Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has long faced United States sanctions over his government’s human rights abuses. But the World Health Organization’s new chief is making the longtime African leader a “goodwill ambassador.”
With Mugabe on hand, WHO director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus told a conference in Uruguay this week on non-communicable diseases that he’d agreed to be a “goodwill ambassador” on the issue.
Tedros, an Ethiopian who became WHO’s first African director-general this year, said Mugabe could use the role “to influence his peers in his region.”
A WHO spokeswoman confirmed the comments to The Associated Press on Friday.