Mugabe to be allowed at EU/Africa summit

Mugabe to be allowed at EU/Africa summit - officials

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By Staff Reporter

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe is likely to be allowed to travel to Portugal for a second summit between the European Union and African leaders in December, officials said.

For four years, the summit has been postponed because of a disagreement between the two continents over whether Mugabe may attend.

But Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado has revealed that the EU was now determined the summit would be held in Lisbon in December with African leaders united that Mugabe should also attend.

The question of Zimbabwe's participation was now being treated as mere "detail" to be worked out over the next few months.

Amado said the issue of sanctions on Zimbabwe should be separated from the summit.

"The issue of sanctions is one issue; the summit is one other issue ... we need to structure for the future a strategic partnership with the African Union to promote the interest of both continents.

"We should not compound strategic partnerships... because there is a problem with different countries, this is not compatible with what we have at stake," Dr Amado said.

Much more so than in 2003 when the summit was supposed to have been held, the EU members realised the strategic importance of resuming a dialogue with Africa at the highest level, Amado said.

South African Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma insisted Friday that Zimbabwe, as one of the 53 member states of the African Union (AU), will be part of the summit.

She was responding to journalists following her meeting with Amado, in which they discussed bilateral political and economic issues.

"If Europe is meeting us (AU) at that level, it cannot dismember us. It's not about insisting that, one attends, that the other does not.

"We want to co-operate with the EU as it is known.

"We can't say we want to co-operate with the EU, but not quite with Portugal. That will not be the EU, it will be something else," Dr Dlamini-Zuma said.

In February, the EU renewed its sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's government for another year due to the economic and human rights situation in that country.

The sanctions, which were first implemented three years ago, include a ban on Mugabe and other government officials from traveling to EU countries.
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