Outrage over Mugabe and Ahmadinejad's presence in Rome

By Richard Owen 
June 2, 2008
Times Online 
Original Source:  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4048190.ece http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4048190.ece

Robert Mugabe is defying a ban on his presence in Europe by attending a three-day world food summit in Rome organised by the United Nations. 
The trip is Mr Mugabe's first overseas journey since the controversial Zimbabwe elections at the end of March. Italian officials said they were unable to prevent the disputed president entering Italy because the food summit, called to find urgent solutions to soaring food prices which have caused riots in Third World countries, is being held under the auspices of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the headquarters of which is in Rome. 
Rumours, which had circulated for days that Mr Mugabe would travel to Rome despite being persona non grata in the European Union, were confirmed by Zimbabwe state television. Since the summit is a UN event, UN rules apply, not Italian ones, La Repubblica said. FAO officials confirmed that leaders of all UN member states had been invited to the High Level Conference. 
The controversy is a replay of a previous FAO world food summit in Rome six years ago, when Mr Mugabe similarly circumvented the EU ban. On that occasion he stayed in a luxury hotel on the Via Veneto, the heart of Rome's Dolce Vita district, with a large entourage, while his wife Grace went shopping in Rome's fashion boutiques. 
Mr Mugabe, who is accused not only of running a fraudulent election but bringing his country to the verge of collapse because of food shortages, flew into Rome last night. He arrived at Rome airport with his wife and a large delegation of officials. 
Three years ago Mr Mugabe attended the FAO's 60th anniversary celebrations, when he called President George Bush and the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair international terrorists, comparing them to Adolf Hitler. His last trip to Europe was in December for a Commonwealth meeting in Portugal which was boycotted by Gordon Brown. 
Stephen Smith, the Australian Foreign Minister, who is attending the summit, said Mr Mugabe's presence was obscene. 
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, he said. 
There is also controversy over the presence of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran at the summit, which opens tomorrow at the palatial FAO building near the Circus Maximus, once the Fascist era ministry for Italy's African colonies. The Iranian leader's presence poses an embarrassing dilemma not only for the Vatican but also for the centre Right government of Silvio Berlusconi. 
The Berlusconi government is close to Washington and shares US opposition to Iranian nuclear plans, as well as its condemnation of Mr Ahmadinejad's stated desire to wipe Israel off the map. Italian officials said there no plans for the Iranian leader to meet Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister. 
After days of agonised diplomatic manouevring over whether Pope Benedict XVI should meet Mr Ahmadinejad, the Vatican at the weekend hit on a face saving solution: the pontiff would meet no-one at all. 
The move means that other leaders who had hoped to meet the Pope - Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and several African leaders - will now be disappointed. The Holy Father will not meet any head of state or government during the summit, a Vatican spokesman said. 
Last week Vatican sources confirmed that Tehran had asked for an audience with the Pope for Mr Ahmadenijad, and said a meeting was likely. There were reports that the Pope would hold an unofficial meeting with Mr Ahmadinejad without the trappings of a state visit. 
Another solution floated by Vatican officials was that the Pope would hold a collective audience and meet Mr Ahmadinejad in a group together with other government leaders attending the summit, organised by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which has is headquarters in Rome. 
Gholam Hossein Elham, the government spokesman in Tehran, claimed Mr Ahmadinejad had never asked for a meeting either with the Italian government or with the pontiff. However Andrea Tornielli, biographer of Pope Benedict, said Mohammad Javad Faridzadeh, the Iranian ambassador to the Holy See, had made a formal request to the Vatican for a meeting. 
Mr Ahmadinejad's visit to Rome is his first to a European Union nation since his June 2005 election. He is expected to meet Italian businessmen during his trip. 
Gideon Meier, the Israeli ambassador to Italy, said it was a disgrace that the United Nations had invited Ahmadinejad to the Rome summit at all. To imagine on the podium of a UN organisation a leader who calls for the destruction of a member state is a disgrace for every democrat, Mr Meier told La Repubblica. He denies the Holocaust , he is the principal actor behind terrorism, he has a military nuclear program, he violates human rights of the Iranian people.