Merkel Rebukes Zimbabwe's Mugabe at EU-Africa Summit (Update3)

Here is an article about telling the truth as a head of state of a well respected democratic government in the presence of some of the perpetrators of injustice and anti-democratic governance, the so called leaders of the African continent. Take a look at the article and give your comments and opinion about the entire episode. One aspect of the rebuke of Mugabe and Sudan, only reflects the obvious but it deliberately excludes other leaders that are doing the same thing in other African countries. Here is the article:

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Merkel Rebukes Zimbabwe's Mugabe at EU-Africa Summit (Update3)

By Leon Mangasarian and Mike Cohen

Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel rebuked Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe at an EU-Africa summit, saying ``time is of the essence'' for his country's people and upbraiding his suppression of political opposition.

``The current situation in Zimbabwe damages the image of the new Africa,'' Merkel told representatives from 80 EU and African states in a keynote speech at the meeting in Lisbon today, with Mugabe among those in the audience. ``Nothing can justify the intimidation of those holding different views and hindering freedom of the press.''

Mugabe's presence came close to wrecking the summit, the first such gathering since 2000. The Zimbabwean leader, who's banned from the 27-nation EU, received a special visa from the Portuguese government only after African leaders said they wouldn't come if he were barred. This prompted a boycott by some European leaders, including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who says Mugabe is responsible for ``the collapse of Zimbabwe's society and economy.''

In addition to the U.K., Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Cyprus didn't send heads of state or government to the summit, according to a list of participants from the Portuguese foreign ministry.

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said Mugabe sat impassively during Merkel's speech in which she labeled the Zimbabwe administration, along with Belarus, Sudan and Myanmar, as ``bad government, violating human rights.''

`No Reaction'

Mugabe ``stayed in the room and I saw no reaction,'' said Reinfeldt, adding that Merkel spoke for ``all the EU'' on the issues raised.

Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, whose country holds the EU's rotating, six-month presidency, spoke of the ``serious situation in Zimbabwe'' in his opening address.

South African President Thabo Mbeki, who made Africa's keynote speech at the summit today, didn't mention Zimbabwe in the text of his remarks distributed at the meeting.

Zimbabwe is in its ninth successive year of economic recession following a land-seizure program implemented by Mugabe in 2000. The southern African nation has the world's fastest- shrinking peace-time economy and the highest inflation rate, estimated at 14,841 percent in October.

``Europe wanted this summit to end 50 years of uneasy post- colonial relations. But the meeting is attended by a leader who exploits the colonial past and uses it as an excuse for his human- rights violations and endemic corruption at home,'' Fredrik Erixon, director of the Brussels-based European Centre for International Political Economy, said in an interview.

Colonial Powers

Several EU countries are former African colonial powers including the U.K., France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Italy and Portugal. ``This summit is a summit of equals,'' said Socrates. ``There are no minor cultures; there are no superior civilizations.''

EU and African leaders also clashed over trade talks, with the African Union calling on its 53 member nations to resist pressure to swiftly sign accords that would oblige them to open up their markets to a wider range of goods and services.

``It's a bad approach,'' said Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade in remarks to reporters.

Alpha Oumar Konare, chairman of the African Union commission said ``speeding up these negotiations will bring no benefits.'' He said a hasty deal might come at ``a tremendous cost to the rural African populations and to African industry.''

Trade Deals Expire

A series of preferential trade agreements between the 27- nation EU and 78 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries is due to expire at the end of the year. The EU is pressing for the adoption of new economic partnership agreements, which are often referred to as EPAs and cover trade in agricultural and industrial goods, services, investment regulations and competition policy.

European Commission President Jose Barroso defended the proposed treaties.

``They will turn our trading relationship into a healthy, diversified, development-oriented partnership,'' he told the summit. ``They are tools at the center of our common development goals.''

Aside from human rights, migration and security, EU leaders are using the two-day meeting as a bid to counter growing Chinese influence in Africa as competition for the continent's energy and mineral resources grows.

`Losing Ground'

``The EU hasn't missed the boat, but they've certainly lost a lot of ground,'' John Kotsopoulos, an Africa expert at the Brussels-based European Policy Centre research institute, said in a telephone interview.

China is providing $8 billion in loans and investment to Africa and attaches no political demands to aid -- in contrast to Europe, which often links aid to governance and human rights.

Mugabe isn't the only target of criticism at the summit. Protests are planned against human-rights abuses in Sudan's western Darfur region, where at least 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been turned into refugees since 2004.

To contact the reporters on this story: Leon Mangasarian in Lisbon at lmangasarian@bloomberg.net ; Mike Cohen in Lisbon at mcohen21@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 8, 2007 12:34 EST