AU will form splinter group if not given permanent UN seat --Mugabe

Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe on Saturday announced that the African Union was planning to form a splinter group with countries such as Russia, China and India.

He said this would happen if the UN security council fails to include Africa in the group next year.

He noted that the AU was still concerned that it had no permanent seats on the security council.

The 92-year-old Zimbabwean leader told ZANU-PF supporters in Harare that the African Union wants to be on the Security Council if veto powers of the five permanent members ,China, France, the United Kingdom, the U.S., and Russia were not removed.

“If they remain adamant, they must not cry foul when we agree to form our own organization with countries like China, India and other Asian countries. This is what we want to do next year in September, when we have made a commitment,” he said.

However, during his 30 minutes speech, he did not refer to calls made on Thursday by his Botswana counterpart, Ian Khama requesting that Mugabe step down and allow fresh blood to improve the economy of the country.