Mugabe's presence at UN food summit 'obscene': Australia
June 1, 2008
AFP
Original Source: http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jV0AtOAzpcD1-066wrGXd03oRX5w

SYDNEY (AFP) — The presence of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe at a United Nations summit on food security in Rome is obscene, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Monday.
Mugabe, who has presided over the collapse of his country's agriculture, arrived in Rome on Sunday for a summit of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.
The 84-year-old president is usually subject to a travel ban to the European Union because of sanctions imposed after he allegedly rigged his re-election in 2002, but is able to attend UN forums.
It is Mugabe's first trip outside the country since he lost the first round of a presidential election on March 29 to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. The pair are to contest a run-off at the end of the month.
Smith told reporters it was not right for Mugabe to be at the summit.
Frankly, I regard that as obscene, he said. This is the person who has presided over the starvation of his people. This is the person who has used food aid in a politically motivated way.
So Robert Mugabe turning up to a conference dealing with food security or food issues is, in my view, frankly obscene, said Smith, who is also due to attend the Rome summit.
Zimbabwe, once the bread basket of Southern Africa, is facing acute food shortages after land reforms and the collapse of the farming sector.
The reform programme, which saw thousands of white-owned farms expropriated, was meant to benefit landless blacks but Mugabe's critics charge that many of the best farms ended up in the hands of his cronies.