By Phil Stewart
ROME (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe flewinto Rome for a global food summit on Sunday, his firstofficial trip abroad since elections condemned by Western andopposition leaders as fraudulent.
The unexpected presence of Mugabe, accused by domesticcritics of running down agriculture and causing food shortagesin his own country, could offer a rare opportunity for directcontacts with Western leaders. But Zimbabwean state television,announcing his departure, made no suggestion of bilateraltalks.
Mugabe, facing a June 27 presidential run-off againstMovement for Democratic Change (MDC) opposition leader MorganTsvangirai, arrived at Rome airport with his wife and a largedelegation of officials. He made no comment to reporters.
The European Union has a travel ban on the veteran leader,facing new criticism over an alleged security crackdown againstthe opposition, because of his human rights record. Since theFAO summit is taking place under a United Nations umbrella,however, the Rome meeting would be open to him.
Around 60 heads of state and government, including IranianPresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who will be making his first tripto Western Europe as Iran's president, are expected to meet inRome from June 3-5 to discuss global problems of poverty andmalnutrition caused by steep rises in food prices.
In 2005 Mugabe attended the FAO's 60 anniversarycelebrations where he railed against U.S. President George W.Bush and then British Prime Minister Tony Blair, calling them"international terrorists" and comparing them to Adolf Hitler.
Gerry Jackson, from the ex-patriate Zimbabwe radio stationSW Radio Africa that broadcasts from London, told Reuters: "Itis outrageous that he (Mugabe) has been invited to anyinternational forum when he is involved in a state-sponsored,incredibly violent campaign against the opposition."
A British Foreign Office spokesman in London, asked forreaction to Mugabe's Rome visit, told Reuters: "It is a matterof concern to us and we would prefer that he did not attend."
UNCERTAIN FUTURE
Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence fromBritain in 1980 and is the only leader most Zimbabweans haveknown, will arrive in Rome with an uncertain political future.
After a lengthy delay in releasing the March 23presidential poll results, figures from Zimbabwe's electoralcommission showed Tsvangirai won more votes but not enough toavoid a run-off. The opposition complained of vote rigging andsaid Tsvangirai won the contest outright.
The controversy over the election is only the latest in aseries of ballot disputes over the years but it is the mostserious and analysts say it illustrates the deep frustrationZimbabweans feel about his handling of the country's finances.
Zimbabwe's economy is a shambles. Inflation is 165,000percent, unemployment 80 percent and there are chronicshortages of basic necessities including food and fuel.
Some 3.5 million people have fled to neighbouring countriesto escape poverty and malnutrition.
Mugabe accuses Western countries of sabotaging Zimbabwe'seconomy through sanctions imposed to punish him and top rulingparty officials for alleged rights abuses and election fraud.
Mugabe, 84, is viewed by many in Africa as an independencehero. But critics say he has run the country into the groundthrough mismanagement of its once thriving economy and the 2000redistribution of critical commercial farms to landless blackswith little or no experience in operating them.
Mugabe's last trip to Europe in December for a Commonwealthmeeting in Portugal was boycotted by British Prime MinisterGordon Brown to protest the Zimbabwean leader's participation.
Mugabe was in Italy in 2005, when he attended Pope JohnPaul II's funeral.
(Additional reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe in Harare,Robin Pomeroy in Rome, Paul Majendie in London; Writing by MaryGabriel, editing by Ralph Boulton)
