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Robert Mugabe (right) and Thabo Mbeki BORDEAUX, France (AFP) - South Africa and the European Union on Friday began their first-ever summit in the French city of Bordeaux with Pretoria set to defend its role as mediator in the Zimbabwean political crisis. The key event was kicked off by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose nation holds the rotating EU presidency, South African counterpart Thabo Mbeki and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso. The top-level meeting has been overshadowed by the political crisis in Zimbabwe and the diametrically opposed stands of Pretoria and Brussels on ways of resolving the crisis. On Tuesday the EU widened sanctions against Zimbabwe despite a deal brokered by Mbeki between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on talks for a future government, after a... [read full story]
