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Lloyd Gumbo in Kigali, Rwanda
PRESIDENT Mugabe arrived here yesterday to attend the 27th Ordinary Session of the African Union General Assembly where continental leaders are expected to focus on the full integration of the continent through establishment of a Free Trade Area and the electronic African Union passport. He was welcomed at the Kigali International Airport by Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi and Government officials from Rwanda.

President Mugabe was seen off at the Harare International Airport by Vice Presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko, several ministers, service chiefs and other senior government officials.

VP Mphoko is the Acting President. President Mugabe is accompanied by ministers Patrick Chinamasa, Nyasha Chikwinya, Tabeth Kanengoni-Malinga and other Government officials.

Also accompanying the President are Gender Commission chairperson Mrs Margaret Sangarwe and her deputy Cde Paul Kadzima. The Heads of State and Government Summit that begins tomorrow and ends on Monday is running under the theme “2016: Year of Human Rights with a particular focus on the Rights of Women”.

It is expected that the much-anticipated AU passport will be first issued to Heads of State and Government of the African Union at the Summit. The AU passport is a flagship project of the continent’s Agenda 2063 as it seeks to facilitate free movement of people, goods and services around the continent as a strategy to foster intra-Africa trade, integration and socio-economic development.

By 2018, there will be no need for Africans visiting other countries on the continent to require a visa. Also on the agenda will be the election of the new African Union Commission chairperson after the incumbent, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, decided not to run for a second term.

Dr Dlamini-Zuma, who was a Sadc-sponsored candidate, won the AU Commission chairperson post in 2012, becoming the first Southern African to head the AU Commission. As per the AU Commission Constitution, a chairperson could serve for two four-year terms but Dr Dlamini-Zuma decided against running for the second term amid indications that she wanted to rejoin active politics in South Africa.

A number of candidates from regional economic blocs will be running for the post with Sadc’s representative, who is Botswana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, coming against East African Community representatives, Dr Specioza Kazibwe who is Uganda’s former Vice President and Mr Agapito Mokuy of Equatorial Guinea, and Mr Abdoulaye Bathily from Senegal (Economic Community of West African States).

Minister Moitoi has served in various capacities in the Botswana Government, including as Minister of Works, Transport and Communications, as well as Minister of Trade, Industry, Wildlife and Tourism.

A former journalist, she has also served as Minister of Communications, Science, and Technology, and Minister of Education.

Minister Moitoi was selected as the sole Sadc candidate ahead of two other candidates from Malawi and South Africa.