Human rights groups urged European and African leaders gathering for their first summit in seven years on Friday to act on Sudan's Darfur crisis and confront Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe over rights abuses.
Activists hoped the 73 leaders from the world's largest trading bloc and its poorest continent would put rights at the top of their agenda at the summit, which will aim to create fresh partnerships on issues like immigration and development.
Previous attempts to hold the summit have failed over Mugabe's attendance but this time the EU, mindful of growing Chinese influence in Africa, decided to hold the summit and invite Mugabe, who arrived late on Thursday.
Mugabe is seen by African leaders as an independence hero and many said they would not attend if he was not invited. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown decided to boycott the summit because Mugabe would be there.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told BBC radio on Friday it would have been "absurd" to sit down next to Mugabe "through a discussion of good governance, of human rights, and pretend there wasn't absolute meltdown going on in Zimbabwe."
Ana Gomes, a Portuguese member of the European parliament, said Europe defends human rights but often fails to act due to the need to secure allies.
"Europe often closes its eyes with the pretext that they are western allies against terrorism, saying there is progress when there is no progress," Gomes said. A group of 40 African and European parliamentarians was joined by 50 human rights groups in urging the leaders to tackle the plight of thousands of civilians in Sudan's Darfur region.
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