Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, banned from entering the European Union, was able to go to Rome for the pope’s funeral because of waivers in EU rules on sanctions for such countries as Zimbabwe, Belarus and Myanmar, an EU diplomat said on Thursday.
”Under these exceptions, an EU member state can indicate that it intends, on account of its obligations, to give a visa to somebody figuring on the list” of banned people, the diplomat said.
Italy has the right to invoke an ”obligation under international law” as a ”country holding the headquarters of an international organisation, hosting an international conference or linked by agreement [with the Vatican] giving special immunity privileges”.
Under those rules, the only restriction is that the visa must be strictly limited in time and may not allow the holder to go anywhere other than the destination for which it was intended.
Rome appeared to have notified its EU partners of its intention to allow Mugabe, a devout Catholic, to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II, the source said.
In the past, Mugabe has already benefited at least twice from the waivers, to go to a summit at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome and a French-African summit in Paris.
Telenews, a channel that monitors flight arrivals and departures in Rome, said Mugabe arrived at Fiumicino airport.
The Vatican, a sovereign state, is not a member of the EU and has no airport, but EU member Italy should normally comply with the travel ban imposed on Mugabe. — Sapa-AFP