Mugabe arrives in Lisbon for EU-Africa summit

LISBON - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe arrived in Lisbon late on Thursday for an EU-Africa summit, which Prime Minister Gordon Brown is boycotting because he would not "sit down at the same table" as him.

The EU has a travel ban on Mugabe because of his human rights record, but Portugal has lifted the ban for the summit, which marks Mugabe's first visit to Europe in several years.

An official from Portugal's airport authority, who asked not to be named, said Mugabe evaded journalists upon arrival at Lisbon airport and left through a side exit.

African countries view Mugabe as an independence hero and insisted that he be invited to the EU-Africa summit, the first between the two continents in seven years.

Portugal, which is hosting the summit as the current holder of the EU's rotating presidency, has faced criticism by rights groups for inviting Mugabe. When Mugabe accepted the invitation last month, Brown announced he would not attend.

"Our politely abstaining from the meeting, rather than trying to block the meeting or others attending it, or going, and creating a Zimbabwe circus, was the best approach," a senior Foreign Office official said on Thursday.

Western critics accuse Mugabe of ruining Zimbabwe's economy, rigging elections and violently suppressing opposition.

Mugabe's trip to Lisbon will be his first to Europe since 2001, when he made a brief trip to France and Belgium.