British PM threatens Mugabe boycott
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is threatening to boycott an international summit if Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is allowed to attend.
The African Union and European Union are to meet in Lisbon, Portugal, in December,and Brown said the "appalling and tragic" denial of freedoms in Zimbabwe couldn't be overlooked, the Daily Telegraph reported.
"President Mugabe is the only African leader to face (an EU) travel ban," Brown said. He went on to say current EU sanctions that target 131 people in the Zimbabwean government must be broadened to include more people.
Portugal, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said no decision has been made on whether to invite the leader of the former British colony.
In Harare, Zimbabwe's deputy information minister dismissed Brown's threat altogether, the newspaper said.
"Brown has never been to Zimbabwe and he has never engaged Zimbabwe so he is not the best person to talk about our situation," Bright Matonga told the Daily Telegraph. // Voice of America
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