Robert Mugabe to boycott EU-Africa summit after wife denied visa

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/28/robert-mugabe-boycott-eu-africa-summit-wife-denied-visa

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Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, will boycott next week's EU-Africa summit in Brussels after his wife was denied a visa to enter Europe, a foreign ministry official said . "We disagreed on the composition of our delegation," said a source at the ministry.

Harare had earlier urged the African Union to shun the summit for failing to invite all the Africa bloc's leaders and lift a ban on Zimbabwe's first lady. But EU diplomats said they were not expecting a boycott. The summit next Tuesday and Wednesday will bring together representatives of 90 nations from both continents, including 65 heads of state and government.

In Harare, a foreign ministry spokesman complained the EU had failed to invite Sudan and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which does not have international recognition, while Egypt, which has been suspended from the African Union, had been given the nod.

The EU refused to invite Sudan, although an official said the African Union was free to invite its president, Omar al-Bashir. Bashir is wanted by the international criminal court for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide related to the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan.