ITUC Welcomes France's Refusal to Invite Mugabe
Brussels, 14 January 2007 (ITUC OnLine): The ITUC has welcomed
a decision by the French government to refuse to invite Zimbabwean
President Robert Mugabe to a France-Africa Summit beginning on
15 February in Cannes. French trade unions, supported by their
counterparts in Zimbabwe as well as the UK and other European
Union countries, had called on the French authorities to uphold
EU sanctions on Zimbabwe by not inviting Mugabe to the meeting.
"
This decision by the French government is yet another reminder
to the Zimbabwean regime that their use of violent repression against
trade unions, their broader attacks on fundamental human rights,
and their
appalling mismanagement of the country's economy, is simply unacceptable",
said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder. "President
Mugabe and his coterie are turning Zimbabwe into an international
pariah state,
while the suffering of the Zimbabwean people gets ever worse",
he added.
Attempts by the Zimbabwe Trade Union Congress and its affiliates
to get the country's leaders to change course have been met with
violence and intimidation. Inflation is now running at over 1,500%,
basic services are collapsing, and large numbers of Zimbabweans
are on the brink of starvation.
Founded on 1 November 2006, the ITUC represents 168 million workers
in 153 countries and territories and has 304 national affiliates.
Website: www.ituc-csi.org
For more information, please contact the ITUC Press Department
on +32 2
224 02 10 or +32 476 621 018
