Confront Mugabe, Tutu tells EU

2007-12-07 14:02

Lisbon - Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu urged EU leaders on Friday to confront Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on his human rights record, saying their silence would be interpreted as condoning violations.

Tutu told a Portuguese radio station that this weekend's EU-Africa summit in Lisbon should be used as an opportunity to forge a more equal relationship between the two continents but not at the expense of fundamental rights.

"I would expect that they (European Union leaders) would criticise any regime that violates human rights because if you don't, you are condoning those violations. The violators will think you are on their side," Tutu told Renascenca radio.

Tutu, awarded the Nobel peace prize for his role in the fight against apartheid, said Mugabe made Zimbabwe a "showpiece" country in the first years after independence from Britain in 1980 but was now presiding over "blatant" rights violations.

"I am deeply saddened by what has happened," said Tutu, who has previously described the 83-year-old Mugabe as a caricature of an African dictator.

"Since he has been invited I would hope that the European Union will speak without any euphemism on human rights which are being violated so blatantly in Zimbabwe."

Mugabe is usually subject to a travel ban from the European Union but he managed to secure an invitation to the summit on Saturday and Sunday after fellow southern African leaders threatened to stay away in solidarity.

His presence has prompted British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to boycott the summit.

The EU imposed a series of targeted sanctions on Mugabe after concluding that he rigged his 2002 re-election.

Assaults by Zimbabwe security forces on opposition figures earlier this year prompted a new war of words between Europe and the regime in Harare, with Mugabe telling his critics to "go hang".

- AFP