Anger over visa for Zimbabwe minister

Zimbabwe's Trade Minister has been granted a visa to attend talks in Brussels, prompting a political row and claims that Harare is making "a mockery" of the European Union's travel ban on top officials.

Samuel Mumbengegwi arrived in Belgium this week and will be allowed to stay in the country until a series of meetings between the EU and developing nations ends tomorrow. Belgium says it had little alternative to granting a visa, which was given only after consultations with legal experts. But the decision has provoked bitter criticism from MEPs and Zimbabwean opposition politicians.

Zimbabwe's élite has already taken advantage of a loophole in the EU's travel ban to attend UN-sponsored or international meetings in Italy and France. However critics argue that, by travelling to the EU's headquarters in Brussels, the minister is exposing the sanctions to particular ridicule.

Mr Mumbengegwi and his officials had been invited to talks between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states, which began on Monday. The minister is thought to have been in Brussels since the beginning of the week, staying in a luxury hotel.

Belgium says it granted the visa on the advice of the European Council's legal service which ruled that the Cotonou agreement between the EU and developing nations gives the minister exemption from sanctions imposed by the 15 member states. Because Cotonou is a formal treaty it is deemed to have higher legal status than the EU agreement to impose the visa ban.

But one theory is that the EU was concerned that, if it barred Zimbabwe, other African nations would boycott the talks.

Glenys Kinnock, Labour's development spokeswoman in the European Parliament and co-president of the EU/ACP Joint Assembly, said granting the visa "surely makes a mockery of the strong stand which Europe claims to have taken against the Mugabe regime".

She said: "When President Mugabe has broken all the rules, it would be a travesty to allow his minister to come. You may be able to get agreement on imposing sanctions, but when it comes to implementing them some nations are weak."

In a statement, the Zimbabwean opposition Movement for Democratic Change described the decision to admit the Trade Minister as an "alarming loop-hole" in the law. It added: "Travel bans must be comprehensive. Mugabe and his cohorts must be made conscious of their international isolation and made aware that their policies are viewed as morally repugnant by large sections of the international community."

The European Commission stressed that Mr Mumbengegwi will not be holding meetings with any officials during his stay in Brussels.

In February EU foreign ministers imposed a European travel ban on President Mugabe and 19 of his top-ranking associates – a list which was extended in July to a further 52 close associates.