Mugabe presence at global hunger summit drops jaws

Despite a European Union travel ban imposed on Mugabe more than five years ago, he flew into Rome on Sunday night and under police escort was whisked to a fancy hotel on the city’s Via Veneto, famed symbol of la dolce vita.

Officials of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO, which is sponsoring the conference, said they could not block Mugabe’s attendance because EU restrictions do not extend to a UN venue. (Mugabe similarly wiggled around the travel ban with Italian acquiescence when he attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005. The ceremony took place in the Vatican, a city-state not part of the EU, even though Mugabe flew into Italy, which is a member.)

Approximately 40 heads of state or government are expected in Rome this week for the FAO summit, which is aimed at confronting the spread of world hunger amid sharp increases in food costs. Officials blame a daunting convergence of factors, from record prices for fuel to bad harvests exacerbated by climate change, for making food unavailable or unaffordable to a vast, globe-spanning community of already poor people.

Critics regard Mugabe’s presence as especially provocative because of what they see as his role in plunging his once bountiful nation into economic chaos.

In what he portrayed as a reform program, Mugabe seized thousands of white-owned farms that he said would go to landless blacks but ended up, critics charge, in the hands of his cronies, who allowed them to waste away.

Australia and the Netherlands joined the chorus condemning Mugabe’s presence. Another participant raising eyebrows is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who before traveling to Rome reiterated his conviction that Israel will be wiped from the map.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has chosen to exclude Mugabe and Ahmadinejad from a state dinner tonight honouring conference attendees, Italian news agencies reported. Berlusconi is co-hosting the dinner with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.