Europe is in a twist over Robert Mugabe

José Socrates, the prime minister of Portugal, and the holder of the presidency of the Council of the European Union, has been planning a high-level summit between the European Union and African countries over the 8th-9th December. There has been mounting speculation that Portugal might extend an invitation to the Zimbabwean leader. Yet Mr. Mugabe is banned from visiting the European Union: His policies have not only reduced Zimbabwe to a basketcase, but have also repressed political opposition extensively, leading to famine and widespread human rights abuses.

Today, the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, said on television that he would not attend any meeting between the European Union and Africa should an invitation be extended to Mr. Mugabe. Mr. Brown recognised the importance of the summit, which he said had great potential in fostering closer relations between Europeans and Africa’s countries. As he put it:

I applaud the prime minister of Portugal for what he is trying to do to build stronger relations between Europe and Africa. This is a summit that is necessary for Africa’s sake.

But he stated that Mr. Mugabe’s presence would ‘divert attention’ from pressing matters like African poverty, good governance and health. The British prime minister went on to say that the Zimbabwean tyrant’s misrule was ‘a tragedy that requires the whole of the world to speak up and also to act.’ Pointing to the terrible problems facing Zimbabwean society, Mr. Brown highlighted the wretched misgovernance of Mr. Mugabe’s regime:

Four million people have left the country. Four million people on food aid because of famine by Christmas, eighty percent unemployment, life expectancy at thirty seven.

As such, the British prime minister’s intention to boycott the European Union-Africa summit—should the Zimbabwean leader be allowed to attend—is right. Given his record, Mr. Mugabe’s presence would be deeply inappropriate; it would give the Zimbabwean dictator an opportunity to strut like a peacock on the world stage, while breaking the travel ban imposed on him by Brussels. It would undermine European values, and would move attention away from pressing matters where European assistance could help improve the lives of millions of Africans. It would also show us to be weak. Some African leaders and the African Union have demanded that the Zimbabwean leader be invited. Yet neither Mr. Mugabe or the African Union have the right or authority to choose who will and will not attend summits organised by the European Union. That, after all, is the prerogative of the host, and we should be willing to remind any party that thinks otherwise.

Robert Mugabe is a blot on the face of contemporary Africa, and we Europeans should do whatever we can to help Zimbabwean reformists oust him from office, thereby ending an impediment to progress and hope.