Haakon's trip to Tanzania

[Dennism]

Aftenposten

Crown Prince Haakon's trip to Tanzania got off to a remarkably rocky start on Tuesday as the visit was dogged by a series of unfortunate developments. The royal baggage went missing, the president had to leave town and a university was canceled due to rioting, newspaper VG reported.

"Most of what could go wrong, went wrong," Inge Herman Rydland at the Norwegian embassy in Tanzania told the newspaper.

A meeting with Tanzania's president Benjamin William Mkapa had to be canceled when Mkapa had to travel abruptly to parliament in Dodoma for budget negotiations.

This resulted in a lengthier visit with Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye, but the planned royal gifts to the PM and a HIV/AIDS center in Dar es Salaam had to be skipped since these went missing with the crown prince's luggage.

The most worrying disruption to the planned tour was a violent riot at the University of Dar es Salaam just hours before Crown Prince Haakon was scheduled to visit. Police used tear gas on students protesting new rules concerning loans.

The crown prince visited an AIDS treatment center in Dar es Salaam, where he was clearly moved by his meeting with children and infants born with the disease.

Crown Prince Haakon is on a four-day trip to Tanzania. The crown prince is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations' development program (UNDP) and has extended his stint until the end of 2005.



Crown Prince Haakon greets five-month old Issa at the Pasada HIV/AIDS center in Dar es Salaam while the boy's mother Moshi Mohamedi looks on.

photo

[Fireweaver]

The image of the crown prince with the children was very moving.

[Bubbette]

Lots of photos of Haakon in Africa:
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/lo...icle778192.ece http://www.aftenposten.no/english/bildeser...ticle781710.ece