Leaders of Europe and Africa headed home yesterday after a summit that failed to mask deep divisions despite pledges of an equal relationship, with a row on Zimbabwe highlighting the gulf between the continents.
Fifty years after Ghana, the first African nation to free itself of European rule, won its independence, the two-day summit hosted by one of the continent's former colonial powers, Portugal, was billed as an opportunity for all sides to speak their mind on a level footing.
"We met at this summit talking plainly and directly as equals," said Ghanaian President John Kufuor at Sunday's conclusion of the two-day summit in Lisbon where a broad-brush joint declaration on a "common vision" was signed.
But if Kufuor and host Prime Minister Jose Socrates portrayed the summit as a chance for both sides to enjoy a frank but cordial exchange of views, the debate over Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's presence was vitriolic.
After German Chancellor Angela Merkel accused the 83-year-old on Saturday of undermining the image of Africa, Mugabe hit back at her and three other critical European leaders for displaying an "arrogance" and "superiority complex" that was intolerable given the lack of democracy during colonialism.
Reed Brody, an analyst for New York-based Human Rights Watch who attended the summit, said while Western leaders may not necessarily always be fans of human rights, the concept was more deeply ingrained than in Africa.
"There's a difference in political cultures. Concepts of tolerance, dissidence and opposition have developed over many generations," he said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
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Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
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