They’ve left out our Joseph. Mrs Michelle Muscat must be furious.

Published: December 10, 2013 at 4:14pm

The Daily Mail has listed all the dignitaries and VIPs at the memorial service for Nelson Mandela. Here is the list. I notice that they’ve left out John Major, too, even though he was there: @British Prime Minister David Cameron, deputy PM Nick Clegg and former Prime Minister Tony Blair”.

FULL LIST OF FOREIGN DIGNITARIES AT MANDELA’S MEMORIAL

– Afghan President Hamid Karzai
– Angolan Vice President Manuel Vincent
– Argentinian Acting President Amado Boudou
– Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott
– Bahamas’ Prime Minister Perry Christie
– Bangladesh’s President Abdul Hamid
– Belgian Prime Minister Elio di Rupo and King Philippe
– Benin’s President Boni Yayi
– Botswana’s President Seretse Ian Khama
– Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and three predecessors, including Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
– British Prime Minister David Cameron, deputy PM Nick Clegg and former Prime Minister Tony Blair
– Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza
– Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and three of his predecessors
– Chadian President Idriss Deby
– Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao
– Comoros’ President Ikiliou Dhoinine
– Congo’s President Joseph Kabila
– Croatian President Ivo Josipovic
– Cuban President Raul Castro
– Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout
– Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and Prince Frederik
– Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh
– East Timor’s Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao
– El Salvador’s Foreign Minister Jaime Miranda
– Equatorial Guinea’s President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
– Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn
– European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso
– European Union Council President Herman Van Rompuy
– Finnish President Sauli Niinisto
– French President Francois Hollande and his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy
– Gabon’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba
– Gambian President Yahya Jammeh
– German President Joachim Gauck
– Ghana’s President John Dramani Mahama
– Guinean President Alpha Conde
– Guyana’s President Donald Ramotar
– Haitian President Michel Martelly and Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe
– Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi
– Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
– Irish President Michael Higgins
– Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta
– Ivory Coast’s President Allasane Ouattara
– Jamaica’s Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller
– Japan’s Crown Prince Naruhito and former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda
– Jordanian Queen Rania and Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour
– Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta
– Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati
– Lesotho’s Prime Minister Thomas Thabane
– Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
– Malawi’s President Joyce Banda
– Malaysian Energy Minister Maximus Ongkili
– Mauritius’ Prime Minister Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz
– Mexican President Pena Nieto
– Morocco’s Prince Moulay Rachid
– Mozambique’s President Armando Emilio Guebuza
– Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba
– Nepalese Foreign Minister Madhav Prassad Ghimire
– The Netherlands’ Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans and King Willem-Alexander
– Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou
– Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan
– Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Crown Prince Haakon
– Pakistan’s President Mamnoon Hussain
– Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
– Philippines’ Vice President Jejomar Binay
– Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski and former President Lech Walesa
– Portuguese President Cavaco Silva.
– Saudi-Arabia’s Deputy Prime Minister Muqrin bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
– Senegalese President Macky Sall
– Serbian President Tomislav Nicolic
– Seychelles President James Michel
– Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak
– Slovenia’s President Borut Pahor
– South Korean Prime Minister Hongwon Chung
– South Sudan’s President Salva Kir Mayardi
– Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Prince Felipe
– Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa
– Sudanese Vice President Bakri Hassan Salih
– Suriname’s President Desire Delan Bouterse
– Swaziland’s Prime Minister Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini
– Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and Princess Victoria
– Swiss President Ulrich Maurer
– Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete
– Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar
– Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki
– Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni
– U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay
– U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his predecessor Kofi Annan
– U.S. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama as well as former presidents George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary
– Uruguay’s Foreign Minister Luis Almagro
– Vatican official Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana
– Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro
– Zambia’s President Michael Sata
– Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe




27 Comments Comment

  1. xejn b' xejn says:

    Nice, they mentioned Mugabe and not Muscat.

  2. edgar says:

    He went to South Africa, but are we sure that he did not go on a safari. Chris Cardona went to Bali but he did not attend the final day of the conference.

  3. il-Ginger says:

    Why?

  4. Antonio says:

    Could it be that he found a burger place on his way there?

  5. Alexander Ball says:

    He wasn’t at the service.

    He’s set up a passport stall in the vestry.

  6. Pawlu says:

    So should we shout for joy!!! This is something that as a country we should all not be pleased about! Unless we still have the colonist mentality that we are savage naked natives eating British people !!

    • Neil says:

      Joy? Maybe not. But it is hilarious.

    • Antoine Vella says:

      Malta should have been represented by the President. that’s his job.

      Joseph Muscat should have stayed in Malta and tried to sort out the mess he has created with his sale of passports scheme.

      It is always a pleasure to see a presumptuous little upstart put down by the international press. For someone like Muscat, being ignored is worse than being criticised.

      What does it matter that he’s Maltese? Pawlu, does your outdated sense of patriotism take you to the extreme of siding even with an arrogant fool, just because he happens to be Maltese?

    • H.Galea (NRK) says:

      I am very sorry for my country, but not for its representative.

  7. Giovann DeMartino says:

    Simon Busuttil must have prepared the list for The Daily Mail.

  8. H.P. Baxxter says:

    I don’t wish to spoil to mocking atmos., which I’m relishing with gusto, so I’ll keep this brief. The reason John Major wasn’t listed is that he has no constitutional role. In the US, former presidents have their own office and staff, as do former French presidents. In addition, Nicolas Sarkozy is a member of the Constitutional Council (although he has resigned, the resignation was not accepted).

    [Daphne – Tony Blair is listed a former British prime minister, though.]

    • H.P. Baxxter says:

      Yes, I had forgotten him. He’s the Quarter envoy to the Middle East, so he has an official role.

      I hope this diplomatic anoracking doesn’t lower the decibels on my giant raspberry, which is as loud as ever.

  9. Alexander Ball says:

    I thought he’d be listed under China as Special Agent.

  10. Artemis says:

    Maybe Joey wasn’t on the list because he’s got no dignity.

  11. C Falzon says:

    Well it did say list of ‘dignitaries’ so nothing unusual there.

  12. Kukkurin says:

    The Prime Minister is known to be notoriously late. Could it be he was tardy in confirming his attendance? Otherwise agree not quite a laughing matter. A diplomatic incident really.

  13. Victor says:

    Does this mean war?

  14. Claude says:

    Maybe he arrived late and they missed him

  15. The chemist says:

    He is after all irrelevant except for those waiting for their passport.

  16. Angus Black says:

    The ‘coconut’ will surely take action or else he will have to face Joey’s wrath.

  17. Angus Black says:

    Not fair at all. The Canadian delegation was led by PM Harper and ‘three of his predecessors’ one of whom was prime minister for just four months.

    Joseph Muscat has been PM for nine months now, and he has been left out?

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