Gordon Brown Boycotts EU-Africa Summit

In the return to the typically erudite HTML of this blog, the conviction of Gordon Brown must be celebrated. Gordon Brown, the successor to Tony Blair, has only been in office since July and has had a fairly quiet Prime Ministry. This week however, Prime Minister Brown took a authoritative stand against the leadership of Robert Mugabe. Mugabe is the leader of Zimbabwe and since coming into power has categorically ruined the Zimbabwean economy. To put it into perspective, nearly a quarter of the population has left due to poverty, and currently 5,000 Zimbabweans leave each day. Perhaps even more striking; unemployment is at 80%. So, in response to Mugabe being invited to the EU-Africa Summit in Portugal, Brown said he would boycott the event.

Brown said "Given the circumstances of the last 10 years and our attempts to give assistance in Zimbabwe, which have been thwarted and resisted, it is not possible for us to attend this summit and sit down with President Mugabe."

In the world of international politics one might say it is uncouth to so roundly criticize another world leader, but if more people had Prime Minister Brown's conviction, perhaps less Zimbabweans would have to endure such a crippling economic situation.

BBC