Sanctions and summits: Sanctioned African leaders and EU–Africa summits

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis contribution concerns itself with two diplomatic instruments, namely summitry, or summit diplomacy, and sanctions or, in EU terminology, ‘restrictive measures’, in the context of EU–Africa relations. Successive EU–Africa summits have been criticised for the attendance of African leaders such as Omar al Bashir (Sudan) and Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe). Despite criticism against the EU for inviting and hosting some of Africa's most notorious (ie corrupt or human rights-abusing) leaders, the EU seems to have taken a pragmatic approach to the matter by including, rather than sanctioning and excluding, these leaders from EU–Africa summits. The article attempts to determine why this has occurred, and the consequences and implications thereof. The case of Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe (1981–2017), is presented as an illustrative case demonstrating the role of sanctions as a diplomatic instrument in relation to summitry.