Memo shows Straw 'agreed visit'

The British and French governments made a deal to allow the Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe, attend a summit in Paris this month, according to a document leaked to the French press yesterday.

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, and his French counterpart, Dominique de Villepin, agreed on 7 January to link the Mugabe visit to the extension of EU travel sanctions against senior figures in Zimbabwe, according to a French foreign ministry memo leaked to the newspaper Le Monde.

Although Downing Street was adamant that "there was never any agreement, there was never any deal", the revelation is deeply embarrassing for the Government. The disclosure came on a day when the Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was charged with treason in Harare and the English cricket team remained mired in controversy over a World Cup fixture in Harare

The existence of such a deal was alleged by Conservative MPs, and hotly denied by the Government, when details of the French invitation to Mr Mugabe became public last week.

Michael Ancram, the shadow Foreign Secretary, said: "If this information is correct, it shows how duplicitous the Government have been on this issue."

The leaking of the memo on the day before Tony Blair meets the French President, Jacques Chirac, at a summit in Le Touquet, was presumably intended as a response to violent attacks on France in the British press. The timing will, however, embarrass and annoy the British Government.

According to the memo leaked to Le Monde, the possibility that Mr Mugabe would be invited to the France-Africa summit in Paris on 20 and 21 February was first discussed by Mr Blair and Mr Chirac at the EU summit in Copenhagen in December. Le Monde said that it was later agreed, between the two governments, that "three difficulties" could be solved by being linked.

The first difficulty was the France-Africa summit. Paris believed that if it did not invite Mr Mugabe, many other African leaders would refuse to attend.

The second difficulty was the EU sanctions package, which expires on 18 February. France was doubtful whether it should continue.

The third difficulty was an EU-Africa summit in Lisbon on 3 April. If Mr Mugabe was also invited to that, he, might come face to face with Mr Blair.

According to the memo, Britain and France agreed to a package deal. France could invite Mr Mugabe under an exceptions clause in the EU sanctions. In return France would agree to extend the restrictions on Zimbabwean officials visiting Europe. A senior Zimbabwean figure other than Mr Mugabe would be invited to the Lisbon summit.

In the event, this deal broke down because Portugal also insisted that it had a right to invite Mr Mugabe to the Lisbon meeting. The issue is still under negotiation in Brussels.