Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Eu's "Sanctions Paradox", Portela, Clara

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The forthcoming Summit meeting between the European Union (EU) and Africa next December will be the first event of this kind in the past seven years. However, the row over the participation of Zimbabwe’s President, Robert Mugabe, is casting a shadow over the upcoming event: A number of African states have threatened to boycott the meeting if Zimbabwe's leader is not invited, while the British government has indicated that it will not attend the meeting if he does. At the root of this row is an “EU sanction”: a visa ban prohibiting the entry into EU territory to Zimbabwean high-rank …