Brown to boycott EU-Africa summit over Mugabe

UK prime minister Gordon Brown today looked set to carry out his threatened boycott of a crucial EU-Africa summit after Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe confirmed he would be attending.

Next month’s gathering in Lisbon, Portugal, is seen as vital to revive Europe’s relations with the African continent – but Mr Brown alone amongst European leaders has refused to set foot in the same room as President Mugabe.

Today, as Mr Mugabe was reported in Zimbabwe to have finally announced his intention to take part in the talks, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso repeated his insistence that the talks were bigger than any personality clash between individuals.

All EU leaders agree with Mr Brown’s trenchant views on the Mugabe regime and the abuse of human rights in a country now in economic meltdown, but none so far agree that it would be worth risking the EU-Africa summit in protest.

A Downing Street spokesman confirmed that if Mr Mugabe sticks to his stated intention to travel to the Portuguese capital, neither the PM nor senior ministers will attend, Number 10 confirmed.

A spokesman said: “The Prime Minister has made it clear from the start that he wants the EU-Africa summit to be a success and to forge a stronger partnership between the EU and Africa in order to fight poverty, tackle climate change and agree new initiatives on education, health and peacekeeping.

“But the UK believes that President Mugabe’s attendance would undermine the summit, diverting attention from the important issues that need to be resolved.

“In those circumstances, the Prime Minister has been clear that he will not attend.”

But a spokesman for the European Commission reflected the majority EU view, saying: “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.”