Dr Arikana Chihombori-Quao may have lost her job but she is not accepting it laying low. She fighting back accusing the AU of still advancing colonial interests

The African Union Commission is under fire after sacking its envoy to the United States Dr Arikana Chihombori-Quao.

An online petition has also been launched to demand her reinstatement back to her office, and calls are growing for the AU Commission chair Moussa Faki Mahamat to resign.

Dr Chihombori-Quao, in June, 2019 during a televised discussion weighed in on “the pact for the continuation of colonization”.

The Zimbabwean diplomat expressed her unhappiness with how the sustained colonization by France is responsible for the siphoning off of $500billion from the African continent every year.

Dr Chihombori-Quao is reported to have been making similar attacks regularly ever since she was appointed two years ago to the post.

The AU Commission, a former foreign minister of Chad, which remains strongly in the French sphere of influence, may not have taken his envoy’s outbursts lightly.

In a letter to her, which she shared with media in Washington, her boss writes: “I have the honour to inform you that, in line with the terms and conditions of the service governing your appointment as Permanent Representative of the African Union Mission to the United States in Washington DC, I have decided to terminate your contract in that capacity with effect from 1st November, 2019”.

The letter is dated October 7. Moussa Faki Mahamat continued that he has instructed the Commission’s services through the Bureau of the Deputy Chairman to facilitate separation procedures and entitlements before October 31, 2019.

While thanking Ambassador Arikana for her services, however, the letter didn’t point out any reason for such a move.

And she is not accepting her sacking laying low. In social media posts and video recordings, she says her firing is because of her uncompromising stance against France and other colonialists.

In Washington too, officials from the U.S State Department are reportedly also not happy with dismissal.

Before her appointment, Dr. Arikana Chihombori-Quao was medical doctor and activist. She is a first generation immigrant to the United States from Zimbabwe and CEO & Founder of Bell Family Medical Centers in the United States.

The latest action from the African Union comes after Faki Mahamat met French President Emmanuel Macron.

Source : https://www.chronicles.rw