Mugabe invitation to Portugal hinges on talks with opposition

By Tichaona Sibanda
27 April 2007

Portugal has delayed sending out an invitation to Robert Mugabe to attend to the EU-Africa summit set for November in Lisbon and their decision will depend on the outcome of peace talks between Zanu (PF) and the MDC, Newsreel learnt on Friday.

Hebson Makuvise, the chief MDC representative in the UK held talks with Portuguese diplomats in London this week, at which it was pointed out to him that the decision to invite Mugabe will now hinge on the outcome of mediation efforts being led by South African President Thabo Mbeki.

A split had developed within the EU over sanctions on the Zimbabwean government, after Portugal announced early this month that it was considering inviting Mugabe for the summit. Makuvise said officials at the Portuguese embassy were fully aware of events happening in Zimbabwe and were also concerned about the gross human rights abuses.

‘They also know there plans for talks between the MDC and Zanu (PF) and they thought it would be wise to wait until the outcome of the talks before they decide on anything,’ Makuvise said.

Analysts in Europe believe Portugal has been under so pressure from fellow EU countries to scrap their plans. They added that since they had made their intentions known, that they were planning to invite Mugabe, they were now looking for a face-saver to get out of the mess.

‘They plan to use Mugabe’s human rights abuses as an excuse not to invite him to Lisbon,’ said one analyst.

Other EU states argued this would weaken the diplomatic isolation of Mugabe’s regime that member states were trying to maintain. European officials said there is an agreement in principle to continue five-year-old EU travel sanctions against senior Zimbabwean officials. Initially Portugal was concerned that if Mugabe is excluded, other governments from the region, particularly South Africa, might boycott the meetings. But recent events have led the Portuguese to change their minds following the continuation of attacks against opposition activists.