|
Mugabe a 'must' for EU talks
24/09/2007 22:23 - (SA)
Maputo - Southern African nations have lined up behind Robert Mugabe in a row over whether the Zimbabwean president should be invited to an EU-Africa summit in December, saying they would boycott the event if he was left out.
The meeting in Lisbon would be the first in seven years.
Plans for an EU-Africa summit in 2003 were put on hold after
Britain and other EU states refused to attend if Mugabe did.
They accused him of rights abuses and rigging elections.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said last week it would
be inappropriate for him to attend if Mugabe was present because the Zimbabwean leader would divert attention from important aspects of the agenda.
Summit could be scuttled
But leaders of the African Union and the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) have warned the summit could be
scuttled if the Zimbabwean leader, who is barred from travelling to parts of Western Europe as a result of targeted sanctions, was not invited.
In an interview with Reuters, Mozambican Foreign Affairs
Minister Alcide Abreu said her government agreed with the SADC
position that Mugabe must be invited to take part.
"We support African strategies," Abreu said in a telephone interview in the Mozambican capital Maputo. "We support the position taken by the leadership of these bodies (SADC and AU)."
The 14-nation SADC grouping is trying to end a political and
economic crisis that has prompted millions of Zimbabweans to
flee the once-prosperous former British colony.
It has asked South African President Thabo Mbeki to mediate
between Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party and the opposition.
"Attempting to isolate His Excellency President Robert
Mugabe would be contrary to the letter and spirit of that
initiative and, thus, the SADC position is that of
non-participation if one of the region's leaders, namely
President Robert Mugabe, is not invited," SADC spokesperson Leefa Martin said on Monday in a statement e-mailed to Reuters.
Threats of famine
Zimbabwe is struggling with inflation of 6 600% -
the world's highest - unemployment of 80% and chronic food shortages. There are growing fears of a famine later this year.
Britain and other Western nations accuse Mugabe, in power
since independence in 1980, of wrecking the economy through
mismanagement.
Mugabe blames the problems on sabotage by Britain and others
upset over his seizure of thousands of white-commercial farms
for redistribution to landless blacks. The policy has coincided
with a sharp drop in Zimbabwe's agricultural output.
|
News
