Strident words between Sweden and Zimbabwe

The Swedish Ambassador in Harare, Sten Rylander is under attack by the Zimbabwean state-owned newspaper The Herald for pursuing a crusade against the Mugabe regime before the forthcoming EU-African Union summit meeting in Lisbon, reported Africa-based DN reporter Anna Koblanck. The local media campaign against Sweden and Rylander started in October. Zimbabwe alleges that Sweden wants Zimbabwe's human rights record taken up during the summit meeting in Lisbon this weekend.

The Lisbon summit meeting faced several controversies and conflicts surrounding Robert Mugabe's attendance, which in particular led to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's boycott of the conference. Mugabe criticised Brown's action as imperialistic while at the same time thanking the other EU-member states and his neighboring African countries for supporting him.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt in his political blog stated that Sten Rylander's criticism against Zimbabwe "was correct and in the right way, and in line with what the Swedish government and parliament thinks." It remains unclear whether the crisis in Zimbabwe will be taken up or not. This is the first summit between the EU and AU since 2000. Mugabe's inclusion in the meeting was sanctioned by the AU, where his African colleagues openly extended their support to his participation. Some African leaders, such as Zambia's president Levy Mwanawasa are more cautious.

Several African and European journalists and writers protested against the summit leaders' cowardice to tackle the situation in Zimbabwe or the conflict in Darfur- "two of the world's worst human rights catastrophes." Zimbabwe's economic downfall is characterised by an inflation of 2,000 percent, a collapse in agricultural production and shortage of consumer goods and petrol.

The 83-year old Mugabe took over power in Zimbabwe since its independence in 1980. Earlier hailed as a national hero, he turned later into a power-hungry dictator responsible for crushing his political opponents and driving his country into economic decay. He blames the West for the economic sanctions against his regime.