Spain joins Britain in opposing Mugabe summit visit

Spain’s foreign minister, Miguel Angel Morantinos said at a breakfast with business leaders and journalists: “We would all like it if he did not participate. That is the Spanish position.

This puts Spain in the same opposing camp as Britain whose Prime Minister Gordon Brown is staying away from the summit because of Mugabe’s human rights abuses.

Although Britain is the strongest critic of Mugabe’s regime – given its colonial history with that country – other EU countries have repeatedly criticised the President for economic mismanagement, failure to curb corruption and contempt for democracy and the rule of law.

European Union leaders agreed that they should leave the decision whether Mugabe should attend the summit up to the African Union and there are some who are still hoping that he will not show up.