FRANCE: President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe slipped into the Plaza-Athénée Hotel, where the presidential suite costs €1,700 a night, surrounded by bodyguards. More than seven million people are reported to be facing famine in his ruined east African country.
Mr Mugabe is the focus of attention at the 22nd bi-annual France-Africa Summit because his presence has lengthened the list of quarrels between France and Britain, the former colonial power in what was Rhodesia. By attending a summit with Mr Chirac and the UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan, Mr Mugabe achieves a degree of rehabilitation. He, his wife Grace, and 70 close associates have been under an EU travel ban for the past year.
Contrary to statements by the British gay and human rights activist Mr Peter Tatchell, Mr Mugabe was not to be "wined and dined at the Élysée Palace" with President Jacques Chirac last night. That privilege was reserved for "special friends of France", some 20 leaders, mostly from former French colonies, out of the 52 delegations in Paris until tomorrow. Mr Tatchell yesterday filed a lawsuit against Mr Mugabe for torture, and staged a 20-strong demonstration in front of the French Justice Ministry on the Place Vendôme. "Mugabe is a murderer" and "Arrest Mugabe for Torture" said placards.
On Tuesday, the EU voted to renew sanctions against Zimbabwe for gross human rights violations, which include the murder of white farmers whose land was seized by armed gangs under government land reform policy. The sanctions were imposed when Mr Mugabe refused to allow EU observers to monitor his dubious "re-election" last year. They include a cut-off in EU development aid, the freezing of Zimbabwe's assets in Europe and a ban on weapons sales.
France obtained an EU waiver for Mr Mugabe to attend the summit, in exchange for its vote to renew sanctions. But a Europe-Africa summit, scheduled to take place in Lisbon in April, has been postponed indefinitely, largely at Mr Blair's urging and to the displeasure of Portugal.
Paris said it had no choice but to invite Mr Mugabe because the continent's two biggest powers, South Africa and Nigeria, threatened to boycott the meeting otherwise. Notwithstanding the former archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Mgr Desmond Tutu's remark that Mr Mugabe "has almost become a caricature of people's prejudices against Blacks", South Africa and Nigeria are campaigning to bring Zimbabwe back into the British Commonwealth.
Britain's anger over Mr Mugabe's presence annoyed Paris because Mr Chirac and Mr Blair agreed on it at the Copenhagen Summit in December. A written accord drawn up by the French and British foreign ministers in January covered Mr Mugabe's invitations to Paris and Lisbon, as well as the renewal of sanctions.