France confirmed today it had invited Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to attend a summit of African leaders in Paris next month and said the visit would not contravene a European Union travel ban.
The visit could prompt a dispute between France and Britain, which has attacked the Mugabe regime for its policy of seizing white-owned farms to distribute among landless blacks.
But Paris said provisions in the ban allowed for trips to conduct a political dialogue aimed at promoting democracy, the rule of law and human rights in Zimbabwe.
"We are in accord with the spirit of this common European position," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Mr Francois Rivasseau told a news briefing.
"We respect the appropriate European procedures and it is in this context that we wanted to invite President Mugabe to take part in the France-Africa summit".
The 22nd Conference of the Heads of State of Africa and France is to take place in Paris from February 19 to 21. This broad forum allows France and African countries to nurture ties.
The EU placed travel bans on the much-criticised African leader and his senior officials last year. But the restrictions will expire a day before the Paris conference and are up for talks at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday.
Britain, Zimbabwe's former colonial ruler, says it supports an extension of the sanctions but all 15 EU foreign ministers have to agree to it.