Mugabe, Ahmadinejad slammed for attending U.N. summit

By Silvia Aloisi

ROME (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came under attack on Monday for attending a U.N. food summit, accused by Western leaders and rights groups of inflicting suffering on their own people.

Britain and Australia said Mugabe's presence at the June 3-5 conference on soaring food prices and their impact on the world's poor was obscene, while the World Jewish Congress deplored that Ahmadinejad would steal the limelight at meeting.

"I'm outraged by his attendance, "said International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander, who will represent Britain. "We don't see Robert Mugabe as gaining any... credibility from attending this meeting when 4 million of his own people are now relying on food aid as a direct consequence of his profound misrule," he told BBC radio.

The Dutch were also critical. Development Minister Bert Koenders said: "We will not allow the millions of people who can no longer afford a normal meal to be held hostage by Mugabe."

The leader of the former British colony flew into Rome late on Sunday, making his first official trip abroad since elections condemned by Western and opposition leaders as fraudulent.

The European Union has a longstanding travel ban on Mugabe but since the FAO summit is taking place under a United Nations umbrella, he has been invited to the conference along with Ahmadinejad and around 40 other world leaders.

Ahmadinejad, whose relations with the West are strained over his country's nuclear program, said on Monday Israel would soon disappear off the map and that the "satanic power" of the United States faced destruction. He is due in Rome on Tuesday for his first trip to Western Europe as Iran's president.

"It is deplorable that a leader like him, who is failing both his own people and the international community, is allowed to hijack the agenda of this important FAO conference," the World Jewish Congress said in a statement.

It said that despite record high oil prices, Ahmadinejad's policies were creating severe economic problems in Iran and some of its people faced food shortages.

An Italian leftist politician has announced a 'sit-in' protest against both leaders, while an Iranian exile group said it would hold a demonstration against Ahmadinejad's visit.

NOT EVEN A HANDSHAKE

Mugabe's and Ahmadinejad's trip to Rome could offer a rare opportunity for direct contacts with Western leaders.

But while striking a more conciliatory note over their presence at the summit, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ed Shafer said he would not meet either of them.

"We are glad they're here, we appreciate the opportunity for dialogue, but it is our position that we will not meet with them," Shafer said.

The Iranian leader's visit has already created a diplomatic headache for Italy and the Holy See after he was said to have requested a meeting with the Pope and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

The Rome government ruled any talks out, citing time constraints, and the Pope's schedule for the week as of Monday mentioned no audiences for the heads of state attending the summit, either as a group or on an individual basis.

The veteran leader, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, faces a June 27 presidential run-off against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai while his country's economy is a shambles.

Inflation is 165,000 percent, unemployment 80 percent and there are chronic shortages of basic necessities including food and fuel. Some 3.5 million people have fled to escape poverty.

At another FAO gathering in 2005, he called U.S. President George W. Bush and then British Prime Minister Tony Blair "international terrorists" and compared them to Adolf Hitler.

(Additional reporting by Katherine Baldwin in London, Phil Stewart in Rome, Emma Thomasson in Amsterdam; Editing by Ralph Boulton)