Robert Mugabe. Photograph: AP
Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, flew into Rome today for the Pope's funeral and demonstrated the holes in one of the world's less effective sanctions regimes: the EU-wide travel ban on Zimbabwe's political elite. The only way to the Vatican is through Rome, and accords between the Holy See and EU member Italy exist to guarantee free passage to the airport, but this is not the first time Mr Mugabe has worked his way around the ban. In January 2003, the British government struck a deal with France to allow Mr Mugabe to attend an African summit in Paris (in return for France not opposing a renewal of the sanctions).
You may remember that as the meeting where Jacques Chirac pointedly did not kiss Mr Mugabe, but offered him instead the lesser greeting of a handshake. The Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube, one of Mr Mugabe's leading critics, today told the Associated Press he would "use any opportunity to fly to Europe to promote himself". Europe also lets him.
The travel ban was imposed in 2002 after EU observers were barred from monitoring disputed presidential elections. Since then there have been parliamentary elections, which were also disputed. This article examines a report from Zimbabwean pro-democracy movement Sokwanele, and their comparison of voting results against turnout that appear to prove Mr Mugabe's supporters were stuffing the ballot boxes.
