Mugabe stirs scorn at summit over food crisis

ROME — So what's wrong with a man accused of starving his people attending a global summit on world hunger?

Plenty, say several leaders who are joining Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe here for a three-day crisis meeting on the soaring prices of food.

"It is obscene," said Douglas Alexander, Britain's international development secretary and head of its delegation.

Alexander told BBC radio Monday that he would refuse to acknowledge Mugabe, saying the president's "profound misrule" condemned millions of Zimbabweans to dependence on food aid for survival.

Despite a European Union (EU) travel ban imposed on Mugabe more than five years ago, he flew into Rome on Sunday and under police escort was whisked to a hotel.

Officials of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which is sponsoring the conference, said they could not block Mugabe's attendance because EU restrictions do not extend to a U.N. venue.

About 40 heads of state or government are expected for the three-day FAO summit, aimed at confronting the spread of world hunger amid sharp increases in food costs. Officials blame a daunting convergence of factors — high oil prices, changing diets, urbanization, expanding populations, flawed trade policies, extreme weather and growth in biofuels production and speculation. The high prices have sparked riots and protests from Africa to Asia and raised fears that millions more will suffer from malnutrition.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reportedly will press nations to ease farming taxes, export bans and import tariffs, U.N. officials said.

Critics regard Mugabe's presence at the Rome meeting as especially provocative because of what they see as his role in plunging his nation into economic chaos. Mugabe seized thousands of white-owned farms that he said would go to landless black people but ended up, critics charge, in the hands of his cronies who allowed them to waste away.

His arrival here followed arrests over the weekend of two prominent opposition figures, the latest in a bloody crackdown on foes before and after March 29 elections. Mugabe lost to Morgan Tsvangirai, but the margin was insufficient to avoid a runoff, on June 27.

Also raising a few eyebrows is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who before traveling to Rome reiterated his conviction that Israel should be wiped from the map.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will exclude Mugabe and Ahmadinejad from a state dinner he is hosting with Ban tonight to honor the other attendees.

Several Italian groups plan street protests against Mugabe and Ahmadinejad. The Iranian president reportedly requested an audience with Pope Benedict XVI, but no such meeting was on the pontiff's schedule.

Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer, head of the U.S. delegation, said he would not meet with Mugabe or Ahmadinejad.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.