Botswana Prez in 'Freak Accident' —With Cheetah

Ian Khama needed 2 stitches after animal claws him
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 30, 2013 1:15 AM CDT
Updated Apr 30, 2013 2:05 AM CDT
Cheetah Claws Botswana President's Face
Botswana President Seretse Ian Khama speaks during an interview with the Associated Press last week.   (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)

Peaceful, prosperous, and lightly populated Botswana rarely makes international news—until its president gets clawed in the face by a cheetah. Officials in the African nation say Ian Khama needed two stitches to his nose after the "overexcited" animal kept at an army barracks jumped up and clawed him when he was just outside the its enclosure. It was "a freak accident, not an attack," a spokesman for the president tells the AP, adding that it all happened very fast. (More Ian Khama stories.)

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