(updates with background, quote) By MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE, June 1 (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe has left Zimbabwe to attend a food summit in Rome, state television said on Sunday, announcing a rare visit by Mugabe to Europe and his first official trip outside Zimbabwe since disputed elections. The presence of Mugabe, accused of running down agriculture and causing food shortages in his own country, could present a rare opportunity for direct contacts with Western leaders. But there was no suggestion bilateral meetings were planned. The European Union has a travel ban on the veteran leader, facing new criticism over an alleged security crackdown against the opposition, because of his human rights record. Since the FAO summit is taking place under a United Nations umbrella, however, the Rome meeting would be open to him. "President Robert Mugabe has left the country for Rome to attend the Food and Agricultural Organisation summit which starts on Tuesday," state television said. The FAO could not immediately confirm Mugabe's attendance. Around 60 heads of state and government, including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who will be making his first trip to Western Europe as Iran's president, are expected to meet in Rome for June 3-5 summit to discuss global problems of poverty and malnutrition caused by steep rises in food prices. Gerry Jackson, from the ex-patriate Zimbabwe radio station SW Radio Africa that broadcasts from London, told Reuters: "It is outrageous that he (Mugabe) has been invited to any international forum when he is involved in a state-sponsored, incredibly violent campaign against the opposition." UNCERTAIN FUTURE Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980 and is the only leader most Zimbabweans have known, will arrive in Rome with an uncertain political future. He faces a June 27 presidential run-off against Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. After a lengthy delay in releasing the results, figures from Zimbabwe's electoral commission showed Tsvangirai won more votes in the March 29 election but not enough to avoid a run-off. The opposition charges vote rigging and said Tsvangirai won the contest outright. The controversy over the election is only the latest in a series of ballot disputes over the years but it is the most serious and analysts say it illustrates the deep frustration Zimbabweans feel about his handling of the country's finances. Zimbabwe's economy is a shambles. Inflation is 165,000 percent, unemployment 80 percent and there are chronic shortages of basic necessities including food and fuel. Some 3.5 million people have fled to neighbouring countries to escape poverty and malnutrition. He accuses Western countries of sabotaging Zimbabwe's economy through sanctions imposed to punish him and top ruling party officials for alleged human rights abuses and election fraud. Mugabe, 84, is viewed by many in Africa as an independence hero. But critics say he has run the country into the ground through mismanagement of its once thriving economy and the 2000 redistribution of critical commercial farms to landless blacks with little or no experience in operating them. Mugabe's last trip to Europe in December for a Commonwealth meeting in Portugal was boycotted by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to protest the Zimbabwean leader's participation. Mugabe was in Italy in 2005, when he attended Pope John Paul II's funeral. State television said Mugabe is travelling to Rome with his wife and several senior government officials. (Additional reporting by Robin Pomeroy in Rome, Paul Majendie in London; Writing by Mary Gabriel, editing by Ralph Boulton)
A girl carries a poster that reads: "Who has hunger? I", during a march in Tegucigalpa June 1, 2008. Honduras is one of Latin America's poorest countries, with nearly three-quarters of ...
