President Joe Biden Snubs Zimbabwe on US Democracy Summit Guest List

• President Joe Biden has invited 100 heads of state to the US Democracy Summit, but has excluded Zimbabwe
• The full invite list has not yet been disclosed, but some countries have announced whether they will be attending or not
• Some countries who have received invitations need to present plans to change policies and laws in their countries which are undemocratic

WASHINGTON - US president, Joe Biden, is planning a two-day virtual summit focused on democracy, but it seems some countries were not invited, of which Zimbabwe is one.

This may be an oversight or mistake on Biden's part, as many other SADC countries are invited, but some people believe that it may be a deliberate snub.

The US Foreign Affairs department has not explained how each of the invited heads of state was selected. 100 countries have been invited, but information regarding who will accept the invitation has not been released, News24 reports.

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Countries that made the list

While the intentions of the summit, namely to promote healthy democracies and ensure rights, are positive, there have been speculations as to how much change it can truly bring about. It is not enough for heads of state to attend, meaningful action also needs to be taken.

The countries that have made the guest list include the Philippines, Iraq, India, Israel, Sweden, France, South Korea, and Japan; amongst others. Poland was invited on the condition that they commit to taking action on LGBTQIA+ rights facing the country, where these rights are still not granted.

According to Reuters, this summit is the first of many in a series that aims to open dialogue about how to achieve a thriving democracy.

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How people reacted to Zimbabwe's exclusion

@udkconsultmw believes:

"Many counties in africa should be excluded... Estwini, Uganda, Rwanda, Egypt, Cameroon etc....."

@MalatjiNkoane asked:

"Is Zimbabwe a democratic country to start with? Are human rights respected in Zimbabwe? Is there a freedom of expression Zimbabwe? If the answers to the above questions are all yes, why are the Zimbabweans running away from their country on a daily basis?"

@shaioren shared:

"I guess only democracies are invited."

@ImVeeMk said:

"Its a Democracy Summit. Zimbabwe is not a democracy, its just a democracy sanitized dictatorship. What can it contribute to the democracy talk .... maybe it should have been invited just to be listener, maybe it would learn something."

Ramaphosa announces US deal to close SA’s coal power plants

Previously Briefly News reported that President Cyril Ramaphosa took to social media and announced on his official Facebook account that South Africa would receive support from the US to transition to a low carbon economy.

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Ramaphosa captioned the video with the following:

"I’m pleased to join US President @JoeBiden and other leaders at #COP26 in announcing a historic partnership to support a just transition to a low carbon economy and a climate-resilient society in South Africa."

Source: Briefly News