Senegalese leader wants Mugabe, Brown at summit

Senegalese leader wants Mugabe, Brown at summit

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SENEGALESE President Abdoulaye Wade expects Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to attend a planned Europe-Africa summit, but hoped a way could be found for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to go as well.

The Brown-Mugabe spat, with the British leader saying he cannot sit in the same meetings with a man accused of ruining his country's economy and democracy, threatens to overshadow the Dec. 8-9 meeting in Lisbon.

Wade was in Zimbabwe's capital Wednesday to try to mediate, saying he was acting on his own initiative.

Wade was greeted in Harare by dancers, drummers and Mugabe, who met him on the airport tarmac under umbrellas held by soldiers in green camouflage.

Speaking to reporters ahead of a Wednesday afternoon meeting with Mugabe, Wade said he expected Mugabe to hold to his word and attend the Lisbon summit, and said he hoped to find an agreement by which Brown would also attend.

"I have heard of no initiatives taken to normalize the relations between Zimbabwe and England," Wade said. He said he planned to propose forming a committee five heads of state to improve relations between Zimbabwe and its former colonial ruler.

He said he has been working to have similar talks with Brown, though two attempts to schedule a telephone discussion have fallen through. He said he still hopes to meet with Brown and persuade him to attend the Lisbon summit.

"I think Britain must come to Lisbon," he said.

Wade said he does not condone Mugabe's policies, but said his actions should be considered in historical context.

"We did not have the type of colonization that they have here," Wade said.

Britain is one of the sharpest European critics of Mugabe's regime, accusing him of economic mismanagement, failure to curb corruption and contempt for democracy.

Critics date the start of Zimbabwe's runaway prices, chronic unemployment and acute shortages to Mugabe's government decision to strip white Zimbabweans of their farms to give to blacks in 2000. The economic decline has been accompanied by a crackdown on political dissenters, whether white or black.

"Given the circumstances of the last 10 years and our attempts to give assistance in Zimbabwe, which have been thwarted and resisted, it is not possible for us to attend this summit and sit down with President Mugabe," Brown said in London Tuesday.

Asked Tuesday about the summit, Mugabe told Portugal's national news agency Lusa during a visit to Mozambique: "Yes, I'm going."

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair stayed away from the first EU-Africa summit in Cairo seven years ago because of Mugabe's presence, and in 2003 a planned EU-Africa summit in the Portuguese capital was called off when some African nations balked at the EU's refusal to invite Mugabe.

Portugal, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, wants the summit to herald a period of closer cooperation between the 27-nation EU and the 53-member African Union and counter the influence of China which has invested billions of euros (dollars) in developing African countries in recent years.

At the insistence of the AU, Portugal invited all Africa's leaders. In Brussels, EU officials said that South African President Thabo Mbeki had said he would boycott if Mugabe was not invited. Even in Europe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said her government was in favor of all countries being invited.

African leaders say that while they may not support Mugabe's policies, they believe dialogue is the best way to address Zimbabwe's economic and political crises, and Mbeki has said he is making progress in attempts to mediate between Mugabe's party and its main opposition. African leaders also are loath to be seen as abandoning one of their own under pressure from a former colonial power.

Portuguese officials say they would prefer Mugabe stay away because his presence would divert attention away from key issues to be discussed in Lisbon.

The summit is to address human rights and good governance as well as global warming, immigration and trade. - AP

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