PORTUGAL: EU-Africa summit under threat over Zimbabwe

Nordic countries threaten to join Britain and boycott EU-Africa summit in protest against Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe. Sweden and Finland on Thursday (October 18) urged Zimbabwe's controversial leader Robert Mugabe to be excluded from an EU-Africa summit in December but left open whether they would join a British boycott if he showed up. Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen also said he had not decided whether to attend the Dec 8-9 summit in Lisbon if Mugabe came, adding that serious discussion on Zimbabwe and human rights was a precondition for his attendance. Pressed by competition for scarce resources with China, the European Union wants to hold its first summit with African leaders in seven years in December, but has not yet solved the thorny issue of Mugabe's attendance. At a birefing ahead of the summit with EU leaders, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said it was impossible to negotiate with Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe. "I made it absolutely clear that we cannot sit at th esame table as president Mugabe. The reason is we are not prepared to give any credence or credibility to someone who so ruthlessly destroyed human rights in his country, is now responsible for four million refugees who have now left his country, and where the levels of poverty in his country are something in the order of 80 percent. What happened to Zimbabwe is a tragedy and we can't give any comfort to president mugabe by being at the same conference as him. Thank you very much," Brown got the support of Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt who said he would ask the EU presidency to tell Mugabe not to attend the EU-Africa summit We are looking forward to having this dialogue and I think it is wrong to say that one man has the veto to stop all of us from coming to meet each other so we are asking the portuguese presidency to tell him that he should not be here and he should definately not be given a central role because he is not worth it. But other African countries are worth to have a dialogue," Reinfeldt said. Asked if he would consider boycotting the summit, Reinfeldt said the EU should take a collective decision on the matter. Separately, Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said he would decide whether to participate only after it was decided who would represent Zimbabwe. "I hope that Mugabe can be in the meeting at another level, so use the same type of system that we have last year at helsinki at the ASEM meeting with Asia because Burma/Myanmar was also a problem and we make such a solution that they were represented in the ministerial level in the summit so. But lets see, first what will be the decision," Vanhanen said. All three countries, which pride themselves on being pro-active in pushing for respect of human rights around the world, said the EU-Africa summit was crucial and that they wanted it to take place. Critics accuse Mugabe of rigging elections, human rights abuses and presiding over the collapse of Zimbabwe's economy, now marked by the world's highest inflation rate of about 6,600 percent and joblessness of about 80 percent. Mugabe blames Western powers for the economic crisis and accuses them, and former colonial ruler Britain in particular, of plotting with the opposition to oust him. African leaders see him as an independence hero. Mugabe is subject to an EU travel ban but the ban can be suspended to allow him to attend the Dec. 8-9 summit Lisbon. The EU and Africa have failed to organise a summit for years because Britain and other EU states refused to attend if Mugabe did, and African leaders would not attend if he was barred. Lisbon says it will invite all leaders this time, including Mugabe, but it has yet to send the invitations. Portuguese diplomats have said the invitations will be sent on Oct 30. Officials say many EU states, pressed by competition from China in Africa, back Portugal. However Czech Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Alexandr Vondra told reporters last week that his country was also considering boycotting the meeting if Mugabe attends it.

ITN Source | October 19, 2007

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