Zimbabwe situation being monitored

THE Government is taking steps to ensure the safety of the 4,000 Irish citizens in Zimbabwe, Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern has said.

A high-level delegation from the Department of Foreign Affairs went to the crisis-ridden country recently to check out the situation on the ground.

But the Government is unlikely to boycott the EU-Africa summit in Lisbon in early December even if Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe attends, Mr Ahern said.

A number of Irish citizens, many of them who have spent most of their lives in the former Rhodesia, have returned to Ireland in recent months. Most of those who remain are farmers.

Under Mr Mugabe’s rule the country has deteriorated from being more than self sufficient in food to being dependent on donations from abroad.

Mr Ahern said, “We sent a delegation of high-level officials to Zimbabwe to see what the position is for our people. We are keeping the situation under review.”

The issue of whether to invite Zimbabwe’s president has divided the EU with Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown expected not to attend the summit if Mr Mugabe is there. However, there were signs that the British position was softening yesterday when the issue was discussed at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Portugal. A spokesperson for Foreign Secretary David Milliband said they would agree to a compromise that included inviting Zimbabwe but being represented by another politician.

Mr Ahern said he hoped the issue of personalities would be moved to one side as there were serious matters that needed to be discussed at the summit between the EU and the African countries.