German Chancellor Angela Merkel is to attend a summit of European Union and African leaders, even if Zimbabwean President Robert Muga-be is there. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said last month he would not attend the summit if Mr Mugabe attended.
Mrs Merkel started her first African tour since becoming chancellor in  Ethiopia. A German official said relations with Africa “should not be hostage to developments in Zimbab-we. The chancellor will take part in the summit.” .
“It is in our interests to go through with the summit.”
The EU-Africa summit is to take place in Lisbon in December.
The official said however that deve-lopments in Zimbabwe are “massively problematic”, and would be raised by Mrs Merkel when she visits South African President Thabo Mbeki.
“The chancellor will talk about this with Mbeki and urge him to exercise his influence on Zimbabwe to change the developments of the last few years,” the official said.