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| Mr. Emmerson Mnangagwa and Mr. Alexander Lukashenko |
The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, who was visiting Zimbabwe for three days, left today for his country after signing cooperation agreements with Zimbabwe.
Before leaving, Mr Lukashenko visited Victoria Falls with the President of the country, Mr Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The trip of Mr Lukanshenko, who has close ties with Russia, has also caused a lot of talk in the country and abroad.
The government of Zimbabwe is justifying the visit saying that it will boost the country's economy as stated by the Minister of Industry, Doctor Sekai Nzenza.
This has also been supported by Zanu-PF party representative in the parliament for Gutu, Mr Pupurai Togarepi who said that Zimbabwe and Belarus have strong relations.
This has been supported by the leader of the Democratic Party, Doctor Wurayai Zembe, who told the media that although the two countries have been negotiating agreements for years, nothing is coming to light.
When the war between Ukraine and Russia started, Belarus, which was a former member of the Soviet Union, said it was supporting Russia. Mr Zembe warned that this could seriously affect Zimbabwe's relations with other countries that are unhappy because of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Mr Lukasheno, who first led Belarus in 1994, is accused of violating human rights and rigging elections. In this country, the president runs for as many years as he wants.
The human rights organisation Freedom House says that in the 2020 elections, the opposition in this country such as Siahei Tsikhanouski and Mr Vikktar Babaryka were arrested one day before the elections were to be held and another candidate Valer Tsepkalo was forced to go into exile by Mr.Lukashenko's government.
Mr Lukashenko was said to have won the elections with 80 per cent of the votes, but there were no external observers, including those from Security and Co-operation in Europe, who were called late.
In 2021, the government of Belarus closed 271 or 271 independent organizations and arrested more than 32 journalists.
Belarus was also criticized after forcing a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius to make an emergency landing in the country's capital, Minsk, and arresting anti-government activist Raman Pratasevich. This has caused European countries to ban Belarusian flights from entering their countries.
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