Trade Deals Stymied At Lisbon Meeting

LISBON, Dec. 9 — European and African leaders wound up a summit meeting on Sunday in open conflict over trade deals between the continents and over human rights violations in Zimbabwe, despite committing themselves to a new partnership of equals.

President Robert G. Mugabe of Zimbabwe used the final day of the meeting to denounce European critics of his government as ill-informed stooges of the country’s former colonial master, Britain. Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain had stayed away from the two-day meeting in Lisbon to protest Mr. Mugabe’s presence.

Africans closed ranks around Mr. Mugabe, refusing to criticize a government that is accused of persistent human rights abuses and of impoverishing its citizens. But a more serious division emerged over trade.

The European Union is negotiating a series of economic partnership agreements, intended to replace existing deals with African countries, and wants to reach an agreement on them by the end of the year. The Europeans say that without such agreements, known as E.P.A.’s, African countries could lose tariff-free access to European markets under rules laid down by the World Trade Organization.

“It’s clear that Africa rejects the E.P.A.’s,” President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal said at a news conference, claiming the support of the president of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki. “We are not talking any more about E.P.A.’s; we’ve rejected them.”

European leaders had hopes that the meeting, the first such gathering between European and African leaders in seven years, would help the Europeans retain their traditional influence in Africa. That has been challenged by China, which has pursued an aggressive strategy of African investment, offering loans and contracts that do not include conditions relating to openness and good government practices.

The Lisbon meeting ended with an ambitious action plan, covering a variety of issues like immigration and climate change, and a promise to meet again in 2010, possibly in Libya.

The verdict on the meeting at which 80 countries were represented was predictably mixed. The host, Prime Minister José Sócrates of Portugal, said it would “go down in history because of its spirit of mutual equality between states.”

The groups Save the Children and Human Rights Watch, however, issued separate statements denouncing the lack of concrete achievements.

The dispute over trade will have to be confronted by European foreign ministers at a meeting on Monday, and the European Union itself appears split over the economic partnership agreements.

African countries with the lowest incomes are not affected because they are protected under World Trade Organization rules. But slightly richer countries — most notably Namibia, which has refused to sign a deal — could be hit severely if tariffs were introduced Jan. 1.

The trade deals the countries have been asked to sign cover goods only. But a clause in the agreements would oblige African countries to start negotiations on eventually opening up their domestic markets in areas including services, which many African nations are reluctant to consider.

Britain is pressing for a European pledge not to impose tariffs on African countries should they refuse to sign the agreements by Dec. 31, and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France said Saturday that Europe should not “bleed dry” poor countries.

Aid agencies are pressing for concessions. “This summit could be a wake-up call for European leaders if they realize that there are big problems with these deals,” said Amy Barry, a spokeswoman on trade issues for the aid organization Oxfam. “They should use the meeting on Monday to raise the sword from above the heads of their negotiating partners.”

Mr. Mugabe’s presence, meanwhile, provided a reminder of how the legacy of colonialism complicated the relationship between the continents, as African leaders rejected criticism from Europeans of human rights conditions in Zimbabwe.

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany had issued a strong denunciation of the situation in Zimbabwe that was supported by the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. Mr. Mugabe responded to the statement on Sunday, referring to his critics as “Gordon’s gang of four,” a reference to the British prime minister.

“We have to fight this arrogance,” he was quoted as saying by European diplomats who attended the meeting.

Despite the attention that his attendance attracted, Mr. Mugabe kept a relatively low profile, refusing to make any statements to the news media.

Though at one point he was embraced by the president of Sudan, Omar Hassan al-Bashir — himself the object of criticism over the crisis in Darfur — Mr. Mugabe’s contact with other leaders appeared limited to allies.

“He was rather isolated,” said one European speaking on the customary diplomatic condition of anonymity. The diplomat said European leaders had avoided Mr. Mugabe completely.

Tag Cloud

External Information

Additional Information

Where Am I?