Gordon Brown confirms he will boycott EU-Africa summit

By Tichaona Sibanda
27 November 2007

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has reiterated he will not be attending next month’s European summit with African leaders because of reports saying Robert Mugabe plans to attend.
Brown confirmed his decision to stay away from the Lisbon summit at his monthly Downing Street press conference on Tuesday. Other EU leaders including the German chancellor Angela Merkel, have criticised Mugabe’s calamitous rule in Zimbabwe, but say they put the importance of the summit over and above Mugabe’s attendance.

Brown told journalists; ‘I will not be attending the summit. 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.’

Reports in the British press said while Mugabe was reported to have finally announced his intention to take part in the talks, the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, repeated his insistence that the talks were bigger than any personality clash between individuals.

It’s reported that Barroso will use the occasion to raise the issue of human rights in Zimbabwe if Mugabe attends. Brown has in the last two months argued that Mugabe’s attendance would be a suspension of the travel ban imposed by the EU on Mugabe and other Zimbabwe officials, for human rights abuses.

The EU travel ban was imposed on Mugabe and more than 100 senior members of his ruling Zanu-PF party in 2002, after what the EU said was a rigged election. However since the travel ban was announced Mugabe was allowed to visit France for a Franco-African summit the following year, much to the anger of human rights groups. There have been numerous other occasions when the travel ban has been ignored.