UK university strips Zimbabwe Prez Mugabe of honorary doctorate

LONDON: Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has become the first international figure to be stripped of an honorary degree by a British University.
The Edinburgh University Senate decided at a special meeting on Wednesday to withdraw the degree it awarded to Mugabe in 1984 for services to education in Africa.
A letter will be written to him, asking that the degree be returned, a spokesperson of the University said on Thursday.
The decision was taken after the university set up an academic panel to look at events between 1982 and 1984 in Matabeleland, where 30,000 people have died. The university has said that it knew nothing of the killings at the time of the award.
In the House of Commons, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said he "entirely endorsed" the move.
Nigel Griffiths, Labour MP for Edinburgh South, who tabled a Commons motion to have the degree withdrawn, said, "It says to all dictators that no matter how reputable a past they have, they are unable to act with barbarity and impunity."
The 83-year-old Mugabe was awarded the degree on the recommendation of Lord Carrington, the former foreign secretary.
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