PRESIDENT CHIRAC greeted President Mugabe of Zimbabwe with the briefest of handshakes yesterday as controversy over the his visit to Paris threatened to undermine the 22nd Franco-African summit.

As M Chirac opened the two-day summit, he welcomed most of the 45 African heads of state with a kiss on each cheek and an embrace. But when Mr Mugabe arrived, M Chirac seemed to freeze.

He kept his left hand behind his back, extended his right hand for a peremptory greeting and then pointed the Zimbabwean President into the conference hall.

M Chirac’s attitude hinted at embarrassment over the dispute that came after the decision to invite Mr Mugabe despite a European Union travel ban on the Zimbabwean leadership. With the French police arresting anti-Mugabe protesters while the authorities pay for the Zimbabwean delegation to stay in a luxury hotel in Paris, the affair is overshadowing M Chirac’s attempt to use the summit to forge “a new partnership” with Africa. Alan Duncan, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, said: “This will be marked out as the grubbiest handshake of the year. Jacques Chirac should think how much blood is on the hand he just shook.”

With the Zimbabwean ruler expected at the Elysée Palace for a state dinner last night, Mr Duncan added: “The thought of Mugabe gorging himself on French food while his people starve is morally repugnant.”

Yesterday, the French press, which initially paid little attention to the issue, was starting to echo this criticism. Le Monde said: “Robert Mugabe’s presence is an insult to the victims of his arbitrary regime.”

Morgan Tsvangirai, the Zimbabwean opposition party leader, who faces the death sentence at a trial for treason in Harare, said: “Zimbabweans will remember in the future that France has betrayed them when they were in need.”

After breaking up protests against Mr Mugabe on Wednesday, police in Paris detained the British gay and human rights rights activist, Peter Tatchell, yesterday. “We were prepared to do anything peaceful that we could to shame and embarrass,” he said after his release. “It feels like a police state here. The right to protest has effectively been suspended.”

Last night the French authorities appeared to be on the defensive as they sought to justify the invitation to Mr Muggabe, who is 79 today. Catherine Colonna, M Chirac’s official spokeswoman, said: “All the African countries are traditionally invited to these summits. That is why they are useful.”

MChirac was said to have had a private, one-to-one meeting with Mr Mugabe last night to voice concerns about the situation in Zimbabwe.

Le Monde poured scorn on the idea that “a simple reminder from President Chirac ... is going to change the mind of an ageing autocrat . . . who is determined to ruin his country.” It said that Mr Mugabe had been invited because 15 other African heads of state had refused to attend the summit if he was not invited.

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