Mugabe beats EU travel ban

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe arrived in Rome to attend the funeral of Pope John II, sidestepping a European Union travel ban because it does not apply to the Vatican.

Mugabe, 81, landed yesterday at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Airport.

He was able to enter the country because the EU ban – imposed on him and other senior Zimbabwan officials in 2002 – prevents Italy from making an arrest when a trip to the Vatican, a sovereign state, is involved.

The European Union imposed sanctions on Harare in 2002 after its observers were barred from elections. It also banned arms sales and froze Zimbabwe’s assets in European banks as well as some development aid.

Zimbabwe Broadcasting said Mugabe was met in Rome by his government’s ambassador and that he planned to meet members of the Italian business community. It also said Mugabe would make courtesy calls on various officials. It did not identify them.

The trip was denounced by one of Mugabe’s fiercest human rights critics, Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo.

“That man will use any opportunity to fly to Europe to promote himself. The man is shameless,” Ncube said.

However, Ncube noted that the Italian government was obliged by its treaties with the Vatican to admit Mugabe for the Pope’s funeral. He accused Mugabe of exploiting the Vatican during an especially busy time. Senior church figures would be unable to communicate to him their concern at the human rights situation in Zimbabwe, the archbishop said.

“The secretary of state might be rather too busy right now to talk to him, but when someone in the family has died, you appreciate all the sympathy you can get from all people, even murderers, crooks and thieves like Mugabe,” Ncube said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from Bulawayo.

Ncube’s comments, defying new laws in Zimbabwe that impose a five-year jail sentence for undermining the dignity or authority of the head of state, marked a new intensity in the war of words between the two men. Last week, Mugabe accused the prelate of being “a half-wit”.

On Monday, Mugabe took the floor uninvited at a Mass for the Pope in Harare, attacking Western powers for meddling in Zimbabwe’s internal affairs.

“It is sad to note in today’s world there are people who want to dominate other people contrary to the late Pope’s teaching,” he said.

Mugabe has been in power since Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980.