German urges world to confront Mugabe
By Angelika Stricker and Ingrid Melander
German Chancellor Angela Merkel challenged European and African leaders yesterday to confront human rights abuses in Zimbabwe, putting the country's president Robert Mugabe in the spotlight at an EU-Africa summit.
Addressing the meeting in Lisbon attended by Mugabe, Merkel said the world could not stand by while human rights were 'trampled underfoot.'
'Zimbabwe concerns us all, in Europe and Africa,' she told more than 70 European and African leaders, who were meeting to try to forge a new partnership between the world's largest trading bloc and its poorest continent.
A row over the presence of Mugabe, who is accused by the West of abusing human rights in his country and wrecking the economy, had already clouded the start of the summit and led to a boycott of the meeting by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
'I appreciate that some African states have tried to solve the crisis in Zimbabwe but time is running out,' Merkel said.
'The situation of Zimbabwe is damaging the image of the new Africa.'
Merkel called on European and African leaders to stand by the people of Zimbabwe and work to promote democracy there.
Speaking before Merkel on the issue of human rights, South African President Thabo Mbeki did not mention Zimbabwe, where he has tried to mediate between Mugabe and his political foes.
Mbeki said the summit should work to ensure that Africa's 'masses escape from the clutches of poverty.'
'We are fully conscious of the fact that good governance and respect for human rights are fundamental to the achievement of this objective,' he added.
Pressured by China's growing investment and influence in Africa, the Europeans aim to agree an ambitious action plan with the continent to revitalise trade -- but also to improve cooperation in areas like immigration and peacekeeping.
Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates said history had 'thrown down the gauntlet and challenged us to work together to write together a completely new page in the relationship between Europe and Africa.'
The issue of Mugabe, seen by many in Africa as an independence hero, has underlined the difficult relationship between Africa and the former colonial powers, some of whom gave up control only a few decades ago.
'The real significance of this summit must be to lay the foundations of a new partnership based on mutual respect,' said John Kufuor, president of Ghana and current chairman of the African Union.
'EUROPE NEEDS AFRICA'
He said meetings like this would help to break and move away from a painful past relationship that included slavery, colonial rule and apartheid. 'Europe needs Africa as much as Africa needs Europe,' Kufuor said.
The call for a fresh start comes at a time when many African countries' economies are growing more rapidly than in several decades, thanks to a commodities-fuelled boom.
Massive investment by China in Africa in recent years, as Beijing secures raw materials to feed its own booming economy, has added to confidence on the continent and prompted concerns in Europe that it is losing out on opportunities.
Some African states welcome Chinese economic involvement partly because it comes without the calls for recognition of human rights that accompany European trade and aid deals.
The last time leaders convened at this high level was in 2000 in Egypt and host Portugal, which holds the rotating EU presidency, has said it was a historic mistake not to have had a high-level dialogue between the EU and Africa since then.
Human rights and aid groups are pressing leaders to talk less and do more to help end festering conflicts like the one in Sudan's western Darfur region, and reduce poverty across Africa.
African and European leaders are at odds over the EU's insistence that African states sign new Economic Partnership Agreements by December 31 before the expiry of a World Trade Organization waiver of current preferential treatment.
Some African nations have complained they will face too much competition and are being strong-armed into signing new deals - Reuters.