Mugabe visits Europe despite travel ban

Mugabe and a host of government officals have been banned from travel to Europe since EU election observers were prevented observing Zimbabwe's elections in 2002. This has not kept Mugabe out:

... the sanctions have a clause specifying that if an EU member state has an obligation under international law, the EU cannot request it from infringing its commitment.

And Italy has a legally binding arrangement with the independent city-state of the Vatican, which is not an EU member, saying it should not obstruct people transiting the country in order to visit the Pope - or to attend his funeral.

But, this is not the only time Mugabe has gotten around the ban:

In 2003, Mr Mugabe went to Paris for a Franco-African summit, following France's insistent requests the President be granted a waiver allowing him to attend the event.

The ban that isn't a ban. Those Europeans are an inscrutable bunch.