Ahmadinejad's trip to Africa causes controversy

As Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad has spent the last days in Africa looking for allies who could keep him from international isolation, his visit has caused controversy within the African political community.

Controversy in Zimbabwe's government

Before heading towards Uganda, Ahmadinejad has spent two days in Zimbabwe where he opened a trade fair.

While Robert Mugabe welcomed Ahmadinejad with open arms, emphasizing their friendship as well as their common backgrounds in a press conference, the reaction of Mugabes coalition partner, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was very different. In fact the MDC issued a statement that denounced Mugabe and his party ZANU-PF for inviting Ahmadinejad. The statement called the decision "not only a colossal political scandal, but an insult to the peace-loving people of Zimbabwe and Iran." The MDC principally criticized Ahmadinejad for not respecting human rights in his own country:

"While Ahmadinejad will be wining and dining in our country next week, nine opposition activists in Iran will be facing death sentences for merely contesting the outcome of last year’s presidential results. As a party, we feel that a country is defined by its friends. We want to place it on record that judging by his record, Ahmadinejad is coming not as a friend of Zimbabwe, but an ally of those that unilaterally invited him."

Canvassing Africa's Security Council members

At the moment two African states are members of the UN Security Council: Uganda and Nigeria. Therefore it doesn't seem like a coincidence, that the US Undersecretary of state for political affairs William Burns met with Nigerias president Goodluck Jonathan on saturday, when Ahmadinejad himself was in Uganda.

It is no surprise either that the nuclear issue was a topic at both of the state visits. After having met Nigerias president the US official told Nigerian state radio: “The United States and Nigeria are determined to live up to our responsibility on nuclear issues”.

Although Uganda could still use its seat in the Security Council to vote for sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, this option seems very unlikely since Ugandas Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kutesa already told the Associated Press before Ahmadinejad's visit that they would "strongly believe that every country has a right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes."