Alain St. Ange, the former Seychelles’s candidate for the Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation(UNWTO) has appealed to the United Nations to bar Walter Mzembi, the candidate for Zimbabwe from the election.
Yesterday the Seychelles President Danny Faure chaired an extraordinary cabinet meeting at which the Seychelles Cabinet considered a formal request from the African Union Commission for Seychelles to withdraw the candidature of Mr. Alain St Ange for the election to the post of Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.
The Seychelles president announced his country will stand in solidarity with the African Union and support the African Union’s officially endorsed candidate from Zimbabwe in the upcoming election. The Seychelles president said: “The official candidate is the Hon. Walter Mzembi, Minister of Tourism and Hospitality for Zimbabwe.” Seychelles is a member of the African Union (AU). AU had presented Walter Mzembi as the African Union Candidate for UNWTO.
In an interview with Pindula News today, St. Ange claims that the African Union blackmailed his country and threatened it with sanctions in order to get him to withdraw from the race. Pindula News is known for its opposition to the current government of Zimbabwe.
It appears the former Seychelles minister of tourism is trying to stop Mzembi to win the upcoming election scheduled just one day away.
eTN was not able to reach St. Ange for comments. eTN was, however, able to talk to a high ranking official of UNWTO and two other UNWTO Secretary General candidates off the record.
It appears this issue is regarded a domestic conflict in the Republic of the Seychelles unrelated to Zimbabwe or the African Union Candidate. It’s expected the election will take place on Friday as scheduled with 5 remaining candidates.
None of the candidates eTN reached out to wanted to talk on the record, but dismissed the move by Alain St. Ange.
