New invitation raises spectre of Blair-Mugabe meeting

The Government was battling last night to head off the prospect of a face-to-face confrontation between Tony Blair and Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean President, amid a row over the EU's travel ban on Harare's governing elite.

As France confirmed it was inviting Mr Mugabe to a Franco-African meeting in Paris next month, British officials were trying to prevent him attending a separate summit of EU and African heads of government in Lisbon on 5 April.

EU foreign ministers will discuss whether to invite Mr Mugabe to the April event on Monday. The British government will propose a compromise under which a senior Zimbabwean minister would represent the country instead.

Mr Blair is due to attend the summit but may stay away if Mr Mugabe attends, or try to avoid a meeting. Glenys Kinnock, a Labour MEP, said: "It would make mockery of sanctions if, at an EU-Africa summit designed to discuss ... human rights, you have Mugabe swanning around and the EU picking up the bill."

One EU diplomat said yesterday: "I think there is a very large majority who don't want him [Mugabe] there."

But the EU is in a difficult position because other African nations have threatened to boycott such meetings unless Harare is represented.

Britain is pressing for EU foreign ministers to renew "smart" sanctions against Zimbabwe, which included a travel ban on Mr Mugabe and 78 government figures. In return for French support, Britain will not veto France's plan to grant Mr Mugabe a visa to attend next month's summit in Paris.

British and French officials would not confirm a deal but hinted there was an "understanding" in place.

Michael Ancram, the shadow Foreign Secretary, said it was "deplorable" that Mr Blair would not promise to block the Mugabe visit. "There are double standards when the Government claims they would prefer the England cricket team not to play in Zimbabwe yet won't ensure the EU travel ban is enforced."

¿ François Rivasseau, a spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry, said he understood the "emotion and indignation" that the invitation to Mr Mugabe would arouse in Britain. But he said the EU travel restrictions specifically included exemptions for talks to "promote democracy, the rule of law and human rights".