President Robert Mugabe has reportedly abandoned the Southern African Development Community heads of state and government summit in Swaziland amid speculation of ill-health.
According to Zimbabwe’s independent NewsDay newspaper, Mr. Mugabe is allegedly headed for Dubai for medical treatment.
President Mugabe has over the years been visiting Singapore for medical attention with presidential spokesperson George Charamba saying he is suffering from an eye ailment.
Charamba today declined to discuss the president’s move to leave the SADC summit.
President Mugabe has been in power for 36 years and currently there is friction in his party with two factions fighting for his succession.
One of the factions is allegedly led by Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is backed by war veterans of the 1970s, and the other is said to be fronting First Lady Grace Mugabe as the president's successor.
The two have denied that they have presidential ambitions.