PM Boycotts Eu-africa Summit Due to Mugabe Attendance

Gordon Brown today put himself at odds with other EU leaders by refusing to attend next month's European summit with African leaders because of Robert Mugabe's presence.

Other EU leaders, including the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, have criticized Mugabe's calamitous rule in Zimbabwe, but they have put the importance of the summit over and above Mugabe's attendance.

Brown confirmed his decision to stay away from the Lisbon summit at his monthly Downing Street press conference.

"I will not be attending this summit," he said. "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."

As Mugabe was reported in Zimbabwe 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.

A spokesman for the commission said: "If Mr Mugabe confirms his participation at the EU-Africa summit, President Barroso will use the occasion to raise the issue of human rights with Zimbabwe. The commission hopes that this will be raised both by European and African partners."

Brown has argued that the Zimbabwe leader's attendance would, in effect, be a suspension of a travel ban imposed by the EU on Mugabe and other Zimbabwe officials for alleged human rights abuses.

The EU travel ban was imposed on Mugabe and more than 90 senior members of his ruling Zanu-PF party in 2002, after what the EU said was a rigged election. However, Mugabe was allowed to visit France for a Franco-African summit the following year, to the anger of human rights groups.

In boycotting the Lisbon summit, Brown also risks angering AU leaders who have insisted that the Zimbabwean leader should receive the same courtesy as all other African leaders who have been invited.