Stop This Monster From Travelling To Portugal

The world that we live in sometimes beggars belief, Mugabe a demagogic dictator who policies of political patronage and kleptocrasy has destroyed the economy of Zimbabwe

is kissed and hugged

(sic) at a poverty reduction summit. Its a paradox that he was actual invited to such a summit with his track record of ruining once the bread basket of Africa now 6.5 million people face starvation. He violently took over farms from white commercial farmers under the guise of land re-distribution and to appease his chief constituent the so called war veterans, only for his cronies to end up with the farms and destroy backbone of the economy and thus artificially create the current food shortages. In 2005 he destroyed homes and livelihoods of more than 3 million people again calling it urban cleanup when in actual fact it was depopulating of Zimbabwe's urban area dwellers who have been a bane to Zanu PF after consistently voting MDC in all the elections that took place in Zimbabwe since 2000. Unemployment stands at 90%, Zimbabwe's average mortality rate is the lowest in the world for a country not at war, 35 for men and 34 for women. He has continued printing money to placate restless soldiers and finance his political patronage to guarantee survival and protection exacerbating the hyper-inflation which is the highest in world at 22000%. This is is the same man that then gets hugged and kissed at a poverty reduction summit, that will remain the greatest ironies of today's world.

There is a proposed EU-African Union summit due to be held in Lisbon later this year another get together for legions of aid bureaucrats that travel the world in a whirl of per diems and poverty-eradication conferences which accomplish nothing. The Portuguese are desperate for the summit to go ahead. They know Mugabe should not attend but fear an African Union boycott if he is excluded. There is travel ban in place under the EU targeted personal sanctions that prevent Mugabe and his goons to travel within the EU. Twice he has made a mockery of the light travel ban, to attend UN meetings, he is expected to do it again. The other EU leaders should make it clear to the Portuguese government that they will not attend if Mugabe is allowed to attend. As for the African Union if they boycott the summit because of the exclusion of Mugabe then it just confirms the obvious that Africa is full of dictators who go out of their way to protect their own, just as they did at the extra-ordinary SADC summit in Tanzania earlier this year following the violent crackdown by a desperate regime trying to cling power at all cost. Maybe the cost of travel from various African countries might be used for noble purposes like provision of clean water, shelter and education.