European Diary Jamie SmythWhen more than 50 heads of state meet this weekend in Lisbon for the first EU-Africa summit in seven years, British prime minister Gordon Brown will not be there.
Irked by the attendance of Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe, he is boycotting a summit that will agree a new EU-Africa strategy. Perhaps fearing a repeat of Prince Charles's infamous handshake with Mugabe at pope John Paul II's funeral in 2005, Brown is sending former junior minister Valerie Amos to represent British interests.
The decision to stay away must represent a big disappointment for Brown, who as chancellor and prime minister put Africa at the top of his political agenda. The lack of solidarity among his fellow EU leaders - only the Czech and Slovak prime ministers are not attending the summit - will also compound Mr Brown's agony this weekend.
Despite the presence of a few thousand Irish passport holders in Zimbabwe who migrated there to become farmers, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will attend the summit arguing that Europe's relations with Africa are more important than one man.
Most Brussels-watchers understand the domestic political constraints that Brown faces over Mugabe, who has destroyed Zimbabwe's economy, trampled over human rights and dispossessed white farmers (many holding British passports) from their land.
But many also feel the former colonial power "doth protest too much" about Mugabe, considering Britain laid out the red carpet a few weeks ago for Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, whose regime is not regarded as a paragon of human rights. And in Africa there is no shortage of nasty regimes that deny human rights. "Is Mugabe any worse than Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir given what is happening in Darfur?" asked one EU diplomat this week when discussing the summit's likely guest list.
There is also a growing realisation in EU capitals that Europe faces competition for Africa's affections for the first time. Cancelling a summit because the African Union won't stop Mugabe attending, which is exactly what happened to the 2003 EU-Africa summit, is no longer tenable with the US, India and China targeting Africa.
"The emergence of China as a power in Africa has changed political realities. Europe now needs to ensure that it remains the key player in Africa," says John Kotsopoulos, analyst at the Brussels-based think tank European Policy Centre (EPC).
"The EU is still Africa's largest trading partner, accounting for about 35 per cent of trade, but Asia is catching up fast and now accounts for about 30 per cent. China also offers a distinctly different approach to trade and is often far less scrupulous than Europeans."
In what has been likened to Europe's 19th century scramble for African territory, China has aggressively expanded into Africa recently in search of the raw materials necessary to maintain its economic boom. Sino-African trade grew 700 per cent in the 1990s; from 2002 to 2003 it doubled to $18.5 billion, and in the first 10 months of 2005 it had doubled again to $32.17 billion.
Most of this rapid trade growth was due to increased Chinese exports of oil from Sudan and Angola, according to research published by the US-based think tank, the Council on Foreign Relations.
Chinese trade deals also do not come with the same conditions regarding governance or human rights attached as those imposed by Europe. Human Rights Watch has identified as a major problem in the Darfur region the use of Chinese weapons by the Sudanese government, the Janjaweed militia, Chadian rebels, and Darfur rebels. But they are helping to transform Africa's economy, which is doing better than at any time since the 1960s, recording growth rates of 5.4 per cent in 2005 and 2006.
In a speech on Friday EU development commissioner Louis Michel said Europe needed to cast off its colonial attitude towards Africa, abandon paternalism and defend the EU's interests by treating African states as equals rather than charity cases.
"Africa is not Europe's private hunting reserve. Europe is not alone in Africa, it will never be alone there anymore. The EU's relationship with Africa has to change, it must be more than a change . . . it must be a rupture," said Michel, who noted that Europe is Africa's main trade partner and donor, giving €35 billion in aid in 2006.
The proposed new EU-Africa strategy, which will be unveiled at the summit, is a first attempt to take account of Africa's growing importance.
It sets out an eight-point action plan to target future co-operation such as security, human rights, trade, climate change, energy, migration and agriculture.
The plan will be reviewed in 2010 to try to ensure the EU-Africa relationship doesn't slip off the political agenda again.
"It is certainly the most genuine attempt on the EU side to take a real partnership approach with Africa," says the EPC's Kotsopoulos.
"Back in 2005 the EU came up with its own EU-Africa strategy, which was criticised by the Africans. But to be fair there was genuine consultation this time on the strategy."
The only shame is that the British prime minister won't be there to help launch it.