Published: 27 September 2018

AFRICAN Union (AU) chairperson and Rwandan leader, Paul Kagame has made an impassioned plea for the international community to give Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa "a chance" to allow the country to progress.

Paul Kagame, the President of RwandaAddressing the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Kagame also said efforts to bring normalcy to East Africa where Eritrea and Ethiopia are finding each other after decades of conflict should also be supported.

"The momentous developments in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and even Somalia are the most remarkable. The region's leaders deserve our full support as they set aside decades of mistrust and work towards a comprehensive settlement. It is important for the United Nations Security Council to collaborate closely with the AU to accompany this process of normalisation.

"In Zimbabwe as well the next stage on the country's path of progress warrants steady encouragement from the international community," Kagame said.

However, he said in Central African Republic, Libya, the Sahel and South Sudan, there were serious problems which remained unresolved despite so much potential.

Mnangagwa came to power after a de facto coup ended Robert Mugabe's rule of 37 years in November last year.

He inherited a country seen as a pariah in the West over alleged human rights abuses and broken from endemic corruption, a cash crisis, unemployment estimated at 80% and a struggling economy.

Mnangagwa won elections held on July 30, via the Constitutional Court after rival Nelson Chamisa of the MDC Alliance challenged the outcome, saying the electoral body had rigged the elections in the Zanu-PF leader's favour.
- newsday