Trade minister visits Brussels

Zimbabwe's minister of trade, Samuel Mumbengegwi, has visited Brussels to attend a meeting of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries, despite a European Union (EU) travel ban on Zimbabwe's government ministers, the BBC reported on Friday. The EU imposed the travel ban last year on government ministers and leading officials of the ruling ZANU-PF party following concerns over the outcome of the presidential elections and alleged human rights violations. The BBC quoted a spokesman for the Belgian foreign ministry as saying there was little Belgium could do as Mumbengegwi had been invited by the ACP. In November, representatives of the ACP pulled out of a joint parliamentary session with the EU because it had banned Zimbabwe's minister for state enterprises, Paul Mangwana, and deputy minister of finance and economic development, Christopher Kuruneri, from its premises. Belgium, which hosts the ACP, had granted them visas in spite of the travel ban. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe immigration officials on Friday ordered US journalist Andrew Meldrum to leave the country, where he has been based for 23 years, news reports said. "I'm being deported. I've been declared a prohibited immigrant," Meldrum, 51, told reporters before he was taken away by police and driven to Harare airport. "This is a vindictive action of a government afraid of a free press," said Meldrum, who reports for Britain's Guardian newspaper. Earlier this month Meldrum went into hiding and his lawyer accused immigration officials of wanting to deport him. He reported to immigration officials this week and was ordered to hand over his passport and his residence permit, AFP reported. Meldrum was arrested last year and charged with publishing falsehoods after a story he wrote about political violence turned out to be incorrect. However, a court later acquitted him. He was served with a deportation order immediately after his acquittal, but the High Court granted him leave to stay in the country until he could challenge that earlier deportation order in the Supreme Court.