AFP , June 2, 2008 (excerpts) – Activists, leftist politicians and Jewish groups on Monday slammed the planned attendance of Zimbabwean and Iranian presidents Robert Mugabe and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a UN food agency summit in Rome.

Italy’s libertarian Radical Party plans a sit-in against both leaders’ presence on Tuesday, the first day of the three-day summit of the Food and Agriculture Organization.

“We are against all dictatorships,” Radical Party spokeswoman Anita Friedman told AFP.
Ahmadinejad’s presence at the FAO summits “addressing the tragedy of hunger in the world symbolizes the devastating contradiction between the violence of totalitarian governments and their demogogic statements,” organizers said in a statement.
“At a time when the world prepares to talk about food security and resources, we must be aware that democracy (civil, social, political and economic) is the solution to the tragedy of hunger,” it said.