Mugabe meets French leader Chirac

Mugabe: Visit has raised controversy

PARIS, France (CNN) -- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is to meet French President Jacques Chirac in Paris on Tuesday.

The meeting, which will focus on efforts to end the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, is part of a three-day European tour by Mugabe.

On Monday he visited Brussels, Belgium, where he held meetings with Poul Nielson, the European Union Development Commissioner, and Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.

His presence in Europe has aroused controversy among those critical of his human rights record and increasing use of intimidation against political opponents.

Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper that it was "a slap in the face for the French Government or any government in Europe to be accommodating him.

"Mugabe is beating up people in the townships left, right and centre. People are being murdered, culprits are being allowed to go scot free and yet these issues go unnoticed."

On Monday Mugabe was accosted by English gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell as he emerged from lunch with Nielson.

Tatchell, protesting about Mugabe's anti-gay rhetoric, called him a "murderer" and "torturer," and tried to make a citizen's arrest.

He was beaten to the ground by bodyguards while the Zimbabwean President was whisked away in a limousine.

Autocratic rule

Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980, when he won the country's first democratic majority elections and was elected president in 1987.

Under his leadership the Zimbabwean economy has collapsed - inflation now stands at 70 percent and unemployment 55 percent - and he has drawn fierce international criticism for his support of the violent invasion of white-owned farmland by so-called "war veterans."

In 1997 Zimbabwean troops backed the rebellion that overthrew the Zairean dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.

Since them Mugabe has been a key power broker in the troubled Democratic Republic of Congo -- as Zaire has been renamed -- and it is in this role that he was welcomed by the governments of Belgium and France.

"The peace process in the Congo is my priority," Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel told The Telegraph, "And that depends greatly on the goodwill of President Mugabe. "I cannot solve all the problems of the world at the same time."

French diplomatic sources stated that the Congo issue would dominate Mugabe's talks with Chirac, just as it did in January 2001 when the two held closed-door talks in Yaounde, Cameroon

The sources also said, however, that Chirac would voice his concerns about the internal situation in Zimbabwe.

Government of Zimbabwe
European Union
French President

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