EU parliamentarians and their Pan African Parliament (PAP) counterparts have jointly announced in South Africa that they invited Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to attend the EU-Africa Summit set for Lisbon, Portugal, in December, The Herald reported on Wednesday.
Head of the European Union (EU) parliamentary delegation Michael Gahler and PAP chairperson of the Ad Hoc Committee on Relations with the European Parliament Marwick Khumalo announced at a joint press conference that they had discussed, and resolved that Mugabe should attend the summit to give his side of the story and discuss challenges confronting Zimbabwe with other leaders, according to the report.
The announcement by the EU and PAP MPs came barely 24 hours after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, still smarting after Africa and other EU states refused to endorse his anti-Mugabe stance, clambered from his high horse, saying he would not oppose President Mugabe's attendance, the newspaper said.
Brown, who held informal talks with South African President Thabo Mbeki ahead of the rugby World Cup final in France on Saturday, reportedly assured Mbeki that he was not trying to stop anyone from attending the summit.
The EU and PAP parliamentarians will hold a pre-summit meeting a day before the official opening of the EU-Africa Summit as they hope to influence deliberations by the heads of state and government.
EU president and summit host Portugal has said it respects Africa's position that President Mugabe should attend the summit and said Britain's stance on Zimbabwe was against European interests.
European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso concurred, saying the summit should not be derailed by the standoff between Britain and Zimbabwe.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said all African leaders, including President Mugabe, should attend the summit.
The last EU-Africa Summit was held in Cairo, Egypt, in December 2003, and there has been no other summit for the past four years as Africa refused to give in to British demands to hold a summit excluding Zimbabwe.
Africa has maintained that the summit should involve leaders from the continent and invitations should not be selective.
Source: Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article