Preliminaries for the long-awaited European Union-African Union summit opening on Saturday in Lisbon got under way on Wednesday as European and African youths - including a contingent from Zimbabwe, a focus of attention given the controversy attached to the invitation of President Robert Mugabe - opened a mini-summit.
Portuguese President Anibal Cavaco Silva spoke with some 250 youth representatives on trade, development, migration, human rights, and other summit topics.
That debate mirrored one in the larger world over whether, to what extent, and how Zimbabwe should be taken up by the European and African heads of state.
Britain's envoy to the summit, Baroness Amos, standing in for Prime Minister Gordon Brown who is boycotting the summit along with his cabinet because Mr. Mugabe is likely to attend, reportedly has a brief from Downing Street to tackle Mr. Mugabe on governance and human rights issues at sessions on those topics.
Meanwhile, writers from Africa and Europe have added their voices to those urging the summit agenda to encompass the crisis in Darfur, Sudan, as well as Zimbabwe. South Africa's Nadine Gordimer and Nigeria?s Wole Soyinka are among the writers accusing world leaders of cowardice for failing to give priority to those crises.