Earlier this month, reports emerged that the French government was contemplating a violation of the European Union travel sanctions that the body had placed on Zimbabwe by inviting President-for-life Robert Mugabe to their annual Africa summit in Cannes. The Portuguese government has also been supportive of ending, or at least loosening, the sanctions, as it, too, wishes to invite the hooligan of Harare to an Africa summit it will be holding in November. The British, as ever, have been resilient and unified in their opposition to Mugabe. But here is a report yesterday from SW Radio Africa, (an independent, anti-Mugabe station broadcasting--sometimes successfully into Zimbabwe--on shortwave radio out of London), stating that the Zimbabwean opposition's man in Great Britain had meetings with French diplomats there, who assured him that neither Mugabe nor any of his cronies will be invited to Cannes this week. A major reason behind the initial French support for eroding the sanctions was a reaction to the fact that so many of France's African allies had protested European isolation of Mugabe.

These two African states tried to influence other AU countries to boycott the Franco-Africa [summit] if Mugabe was not invited, but obviously this failed. The two states have apparently gone back to the French to indicate that they would be attending the summit in Cannes.

Apparently, enjoying the sunny beaches of Cannes outweighs standing up for your pseudo-revolutionary comrade-in-arms. Well, at least there's hope for Zimbabwe's suffering millions in that calculation. Actually doing something to change the wretched political, economic, and, humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe, however, is a task that African states are unwilling to undertake. --James Kirchick