Officials wounded in blast against Zimbabwean president’s rally, UAE condemns the blast

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa said he survived an attempt on his life after a blast at a party rally Saturday, while one of his vice-presidents and several other party officials were wounded.

AFP said a number of other people were also hurt in the explosion during the election campaign event in Zimbabwe’s second city Bulawayo, according to witnesses, but no official toll has yet emerged.

Footage circulating on social media showed an explosion and plumes of smoke around the president as he descended stairs from the podium at the White City stadium.

“I am used to these attempts,” Mnangagwa said in his first comments on the explosion.

The UAE has vehemently condemned the criminal blast that targeted an electoral rally of Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa in the country’s second largest city Bulawayo, in which a number of people was wounded today.

”The UAE condemns this cowardly act of terror, which seeks to undermine security and stability of Zimbabwe by resorting to violence,” said a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, on Saturday.

The ministry expressed the UAE’s solidarity with Zimbabwe against all forms of violence and attempts to destabilise this friendly country, and wished speedy recovery to all those injured during the attack.