20120703
AFP
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe flew to Singapore Monday for a "routine" check-up, the second health-related trip this year for Africa's oldest leader.

"President Robert Mugabe has left Harare for Singapore for a routine medical check-up," state-run Spot FM announced in a news bulletin

The 88-year-old, who has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980, often makes visits to the city-state for medical treatment and underwent a cataract surgery there last year.

He is expected back home at the weekend, said the report.

His office was not immediately available confirmation.

A cabinet minister from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party, however, said Mugabe did not show signs of illness at the weekly cabinet meeting early Monday before he flew out.

"President Mugabe attended cabinet briefly in the morning before he left for Singapore. He appeared to be in good health," the minister told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The cabinet meeting which normally is held on Tuesday was moved forward to Monday to accommodate Mugabe's travel plans.

Mugabe's last visit to Singapore in April sparked rumours over his health, with media reports suggesting he was fighting for his life in hospital, allegedly for treatment of a cancer-related ailment.

When he returned the government spokesman and Information Minister Webster Shamu announced that leader was "fit as a fiddle".

WikiLeaks last year published a 2008 US diplomatic cable, saying central bank chief Gideon Gono had told the then-US ambassador that Mugabe had prostate cancer and had been advised by doctors he had less than five years to live.