World

Mugabe arrives in Rome for UN food summit

by cynthia yoo | June 1, 2008 at 03:18 pm | 318 views | 3 comments | 5 recommendations

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is attending a UN food summit in Rome.

It is Mr Mugabe's first visit to Europe since the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) won a majority in parliamentary elections in March.
Mr Mugabe and his ministers are usually subject to a European Union travel ban - but he is able to attend UN forums.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) summit starts on Tuesday and reports say Mr Mugabe is expected to stay in Italy until Friday.

Mr Mugabe caused a stir at a similar summit in Rome in 2005 when he denounced the then UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W Bush.

He described them as "unholy men" at the meeting in Rome - to the applause of some delegates.

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AlvarezGalloso

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 06:24 on June 2nd, 2008

cynthia yoo, I like this story. It's good stuff. Thanks for getting this story out. Stephan Smith [Australia's Foreign Minister] has just condemned Mugabe in Rome as "obsecene". He further compared Mugabe attending the UN Summit about Food in Rome the equivalent of "Hitler attending a conference about human rights".Back in Zimbabwe, Arthur Mutambara was arrested for criticizing Mugabe and ZANU-PF in an article. Conclusion is power corrupts absolutly.

SOURCE:

BBC News: "Mugabe Food Trip Talks Obscene"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7430421.stm