ROME: The Italian and UN hosts of a UN crisis summit on rising food prices on Monday left the presidents of Zimbabwe and Iran off the guest list of a ceremonial dinner for the leaders attending the meeting.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is able to take part in the conference only because a EU travel ban on him does not apply to UN forums. And Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on his first visit to Western Europe as Iranian president, made sure of a frosty welcome by offending Israel on the eve of his departure.

Neither was named on the list of guests for the official dinner being given on Tuesday by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for the heads of state attending the June 3-5 summit, Italian media reported. Western ministers said Mugabe was responsible for the food shortages faced by millions in Zimbabwe’s shattered economy. “We will not allow the millions of people who can no longer afford a normal meal to be held hostage by Mugabe,” said Dutch Development Minister Bert Koenders. Ahmadinejad said before setting off for Rome that Israel would soon disappear off the map, and the “satanic power” of the United States would be destroyed. Israel’s ambassador to Italy, Gideon Meir, said the remarks showed that inviting him to the summit had been “inappropriate”.

Iranian president: Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Europeans suffered the “biggest damage” from the “artificial regime” of Israel, on his arrival in Rome for a UN food agency summit, a report said Tuesday. “Europeans have suffered the biggest damage from the Zionists and today the weight of this artificial regime, both political and economic, is on Europe’s shoulders,” he said, according to Telenews agency. agencies

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• Ahmadinejad
• the June 3-5 summit
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Submitted by joe2 on Fri, 2008-06-06 07:33.

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