Robert Mugabe in Rome for UN food summit

Robert Mugabe arrived in Rome on Saturday for a United Nations summit on food, the ANSA agency reported. The controversial Zimbabwean leader is banned from visiting the EU apart from for international meetings.

AFP - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe arrived in Rome on Saturday for a United Nations summit on food, the ANSA agency reported.
   
Under sanctions imposed in 2002, Mugabe is banned from visiting European Union countries, but the restriction does not apply to trips for international meetings.
   
Mugabe and his 60-strong delegation arrived at Fiumicino airport on a private flight to take part in the Food and Agriculture Organisation's three-day World Summit on Food Security, which opens on Monday.
   
In 2000, the Zimbabwean leader launched land reforms which have seen more than 4,000 white farmers forced off their land.
   
Mugabe has defended the measures as a necessary redress to colonial-era imbalances, but the country has gone from being an exporter of food to depending on international aid for survival.
   
Around 60 heads of state and government leaders are expected in Rome for the summit.

 

Date created : 2009-11-15