An invitation to the funeral of the longest serving British
monarch, who died last week, was extended to President Mnangagwa, but he will
not be able to attend due to other commitments.
Deputy Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and
Cabinet George Charamba, told New Ziana that; “The Foreign Minister (Shava) is
attending for the President, who is scheduled to leave for United Nations
General Assembly on the day.”
Earlier, the British embassy in Zimbabwe had dismissed as
fake a letter purportedly written by the British government denying President
Mnangagwa an invitation to the funeral.
The fake letter had insinuated that President Mnangagwa,
through Shava, had solicited an invitation to the funeral, which was denied on
grounds including travel restrictions against the President.
President Mnangagwa is, however, not under any travel
restrictions to the United Kingdom.
“President Mnangagwa has been invited to attend the funeral
of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey on Monday. The letter
below is fake,” the embassy tweeted.
The funeral is expected to be attended by some 500 Heads of
State, including leaders from across the Commonwealth which the Queen served as
head, and other foreign dignitaries.
The majority of leaders have been asked to arrive on
commercial flights and told they will be bussed en masse from a site in west
London.
Analysts contend that President Mnangagwa’s invitation to
the funeral points to improved relations between the two countries, as a direct
result of the country’s engagement and re-engagement agenda.
According to the BBC, several other countries, including
Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Belarus and Myanmar have not been invited to the
funeral while others including North Korea and Nicaragua have been invited to
send only ambassadors.
It was only last week that President Mnangagwa met former
British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Kigali, Rwanda, an interaction which he
said yielded positive outcomes.
President Mnangagwa said Blair was now striking a
conciliatory tone and was more inclined to seeing relations between the two
countries further improve.
During the interaction, Blair also applauded President
Mnangagwa’s efforts in ensuring food security in Zimbabwe and the continent at
large.
It was the first time a Zimbabwean leader met Blair, since
Harare and London fell out at the turn of the millennium when the former PM
orchestrated sanctions against Zimbabwe. – New Ziana.
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