Mugabe attending hunger summit despite objections

Plenty, say several of the leaders who find themselves joining Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe here for a three-day crisis meeting on the soaring prices of food.

"It is obscene," said the head of the British delegation, International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander. Alexander told BBC radio that he would refuse to acknowledge Mugabe, saying the president's "profound misrule" of his country condemned millions of Zimbabweans to dependence on food aid for survival.

Despite a European Union travel ban imposed on Mugabe more than five years ago, the Zimbabwean leader flew into Rome on Sunday night and under police escort was whisked to a fancy hotel on the city's Via Veneto, famed symbol of La Dolce Vita.

Officials of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which is sponsoring the conference, said they could not block Mugabe's attendance because EU restrictions do not extend to a U.N. venue.

About 50 heads of state or government are expected to fly into Rome this week for the FAO summit, aimed at confronting the alarming spread of world hunger amid high increases in food costs. Officials blame a daunting convergence of factors, from record prices for fuel to bad harvests exacerbated by climate change, for making food unavailable or unaffordable to millions of already poor people.

Critics regard Mugabe's presence as especially provocative because of what they see as his role in plunging his once bountiful nation into economic chaos.

The other participant raising a few eyebrows is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who before traveling to Rome reiterated his conviction that Israel should be wiped from the map.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has chosen to exclude Mugabe and Ahmadinejad from a state dinner honoring the other conference attendees at his Villa Madama on Tuesday, Italian news agencies reported.

The head of the U.S. delegation here for the summit, Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer, said he would not be meeting with Mugabe or Ahmadinejad.

wilkinson@latimes.com