Mugabe Visit to Rome U.N. Food Summit Angers Many

ROME — President Mugabe of Zimbabwe provoked outrage yesterday after he flew to Rome to attend a United Nations summit on how to alleviate hardship caused by rising food prices.

Mr. Mugabe and his wife, Grace, have taken a $1400-a-night suite with a jacuzzi at the Ambasciatori Palace Hotel.

Opened in 1905, the hotel is conveniently close to Rome's boutiques. But Mrs. Mugabe, who at 42 is exactly half her husband's age, was unable to go shopping because of a public holiday.

Under Mr. Mugabe's rule, Zimbabwe has been transformed from one of Africa's biggest food exporters to a country where millions of people depend on emergency aid to avoid starvation. Last year, almost one quarter of the 2.4 million population was kept alive by the World Food Program.

In Zimbabwe, food prices are climbing faster than anywhere else thanks to Mr. Mugabe presiding over the world's highest rate of inflation, which is estimated to exceed 1 million%.

Mr. Mugabe lost the first round of a presidential election in March and is now waging a violent campaign to guarantee victory in a run-off on June 27. Armed gangs mobilized by his Zanu-PF party have murdered scores of opposition supporters and assaulted or abducted thousands more.

In theory, Mr. Mugabe and 124 other prominent Zimbabweans are banned from traveling to any E.U. member state. In practice, this measure does not cover U.N. summits. The Italian authorities said they had no power to prevent Mr. Mugabe from attending the gathering, which opens today.

Douglas Alexander, the international development secretary, will represent Britain. He said: "I am outraged by Robert Mugabe's appearance at this meeting and I condemn his presence. I will neither shake hands with Robert Mugabe nor meet Robert Mugabe."

He told the BBC: "I will take the opportunity to make clear my abhorrence at his attendance at a meeting which is supposed to be about increasing the supply of food while his policies have directly the reverse effect in Zimbabwe."

But Mr. Alexander's attendance marks a softening of Britain's previous position. When Mr. Mugabe traveled to Lisbon for a summit of E.U. and African leaders in December, Prime Minister Brown boycotted the occasion and decided that no British minister would attend.

This time, the prime minister is sending a Cabinet minister and one of his closest political allies. A spokesman from the Department for International Development said that Mr. Alexander's attendance had been "planned for some time."

William Hague, the Conservatives' shadow foreign secretary, urged Mr. Alexander to use the occasion to call for Mr. Mugabe's removal.

A U.N. spokesman defended Mr. Mugabe's presence, saying: "Zimbabwe is a member in good standing at the United Nations. Just as it is entitled to address the U.N. General Assembly and just as it was invited to a meeting of the European Union last December, Zimbabwe has every right to attend the Rome Food Summit."