Chirac is 'uniting world', says Mugabe

Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, and his wife, Grace, left their five-star Paris hotel last night at the end of the France-Africa summit, praising French hospitality and President Jacques Chirac's role in "uniting the world.

"We've had tremendous hospitality, we felt at home," said Mr Mugabe, who woke up yesterday, his 79th birthday, in the palatial Plaza Athénée hotel. "We leave with very good impressions about France."

Mr Mugabe spoke of himself in the third person to Radio France Internationale: "Chirac was insistent that we attend because some members of the European Union did not want Mugabe to attend." Asked if he had a message for Britain or other members of the EU, President Mugabe, who shunned journalists throughout his visit, said: "All I can say is they should behave like France is behaving."

The Zimbabwean delegation, which was staked out by reporters and photographers hoping to find evidence of Grace Mugabe's notorious shopaholic habits, made their exit yesterday afternoon without anyone having spotted the first lady with so much as a supermarket carrier bag.

The Zimbabwean veteran leader has been engaged in a three-year violent campaign to crush opposition in his country.