Defiant Mugabe attends talks despite travel bans

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe arrived in Denmark yesterday to attend UN climate talks, despite western sanctions on his travel and public disapproval from Danish hosts.

Denmark's prime minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, said Mr Mugabe was allowed to attend the Copenhagen climate conference because of rules that permitted him to attend UN meetings, overriding European Union and United States travel bans.

"That is the spirit of the UN – that the world needs a place where we can meet with those we basically don't like. And I guess that is how you can characterise the person you're asking about," Mr Rasmussen said.

Mr Mugabe is one of more than 110 world leaders attending the final two days of the conference.