Dont condone Mugabe’s human rights violations – Tutu

In an interview with a Portuguese radio station, Tutu said this weekend’s EU-Africa summit should be used as an opportunity to forge a more equal relationship between the two continents but not at the expense of fundamental human rights.

 “Since he (Mugabe) was invited I would hope that the European Union will speak without any euphemism on human rights which are being violated so blatantly in Zimbabwe, ” Tutu told Renascenca, the Portuguese radio station.

 Britain however is reported to believe that any attack from Zimbabwe’s old colonial power will lead to the kind of media circus that Prime Minister Gordon Brown wanted to avoid by boycotting the meeting over Mugabe’s presence.  

 Meanwhile human rights groups monitoring the summit in Lisbon this weekend, have expressed concern that the intense focus on Mugabe will distract the summit from other pressing issues such as the atrocities in Darfur and a worsening security situation in Somalia.