HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Tuesday appointed the country’s military boss to replace Kirsty Coventry as sports minister.
Mnangagwa said that Gen. Anselem Sanyatwe, commander of the Zimbabwe National Army, has replaced Coventry following her election as new president of the International Olympic Committee.
The 41-year-old Coventry, Africa’s most successful Olympian, received a warm welcome in Harare. She's the first woman and first African to be elected head of the global Olympic movement.
Coventry had said she will resign from her minister’s job to move to the Olympic home city of Lausanne in Switzerland. Her eight-year term in charge of the IOC begins in June.
Still, Mnangagwa's statement said Coventry had been “relieved” following her “deserved election" to the IOC post.
The choice of Sanyatwe has sparked debate in the politically unstable Southern African country.
Sanyatwe moving to a cabinet role could be viewed as a downgrade from the all-powerful military position given Zimbabwe’s political situation following the army-assisted ouster of Robert Mugabe in 2017.
The president's statement also said Sanyatwe was being “terminated” from his military position.
AP Sports: https://apnews.com/sports
Newly elected International Olympic Committee IOC President Kirsty Coventry, second from right, is welcomed by officials at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe airport in Harare, Zimbabwe, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Ufumeli)
A U.S. passenger flight preparing to leave the nation's capital and an incoming military jet received instructions to divert and prevent a possible collision, officials said.
Delta Air Lines Flight 2983 was cleared for takeoff at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Friday around 3:15 p.m., the same time four U.S. Air Force T-38 Talon aircraft were inbound, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
The jets were heading for a flyover of Arlington National Cemetery when the Delta aircraft received an onboard alert of a nearby aircraft. Air traffic controllers “issued corrective instructions to both aircraft,” according to the FAA, which intends to investigate.
According to a recording of air traffic control communications, Delta's pilot asked, "Was there an actual aircraft about 500 ft below us as we came off of DCA?”
In a recording archived by aviation site LiveATC.net, the controller responded: “Delta 2983, affirmative.”
The Airbus A319 with 131 passengers, two pilots and three flight attendants was embarking on a regularly scheduled flight between Reagan and Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Delta Airlines said.
The flight left its gate at 2:55 p.m. and was scheduled to arrive at Minneapolis-St. Paul at 4:36 p.m. local time before the flight crew followed the diversion instructions from the controllers, the airline said.
No injuries were reported.
The Air Force's website describes the T-38 Talon as “a twin-engine, high-altitude, supersonic jet trainer” used by different departments and agencies, including NASA, for various roles including pilot training.
The incident comes just two months after a midair collision above the same airport killed 67 people. The Jan. 29 crash between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army helicopter was the deadliest U.S. plane crash in more than two decades. Both aircraft plunged into the Potomac River, killing everyone aboard.
Associated Press reporter Julie Walker contributed from New York.
FILE - The air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport is pictured, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
