President Robert Mugabe who is currently taking his annual leave, was a few days ago in China and has now appeared in Mali to attend the 27th edition of the France-Africa Summit.

The summit is aimed at strengthening ties between France and African countries. This is the second time Mali is hosting the event, having first done so in 2005.

The two-day summit — themed “Partnership, Peace and Emergence”— begins today with Foreign Affairs Ministers meeting to adopt resolutions for onward presentation to the Heads of State and Government.

Reports indicate that the summit agenda will hinge on peace and security, terrorism, migration, cyber-crime, human and drug trafficking, among other issues affecting France and the African continent.

President Keita and French leader Francois Hollande are expected to co-chair the official opening of the summit tomorrow.

The summit will also draw representatives from the European Union, African Union, United Nations, African Development Bank, World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

African First Ladies are also expected to hold a side meeting tomorrow looking at “positive aspects of our cultures and traditions which favour promoting the sexual health of teenagers”. For Zimbabwe, it is the fifth time President Mugabe will be attending the France-Afriica Summit having made his first presence at the 1994 gathering in Paris.

Zimbabwe did not attend the 2007, 2010 and 2013 summits, rejecting the invitations from Paris as they came with unjustified conditions. The invitations, whose conditions President Mugabe strongly disapproved, came at the height of the stand-off between the Zimbabwe and most European countries.

The stand-off followed Britain’s internationalisation of her bilateral dispute with Zimbabwe after the latter embarked on a land reform programme that benefited the majority of black people. – agencies