EU-Africa Summit

"The message is clear: there is no time to lose,"Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, hosting the meeting, said. "We have to begin looking for new solutions for the future of the continents. You are all here to meet an invitation from history."

In his opening address, Socrates said the two days of meetings were intended to be a "summit of equals."

But a row over the invitation of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and a call for colonial-era compensation from Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi threaten to overshadow the meeting, with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown boycotting the summit in protest at his presence.

While Mugabe kept a low-profile on his first visit to Europe in more than two years, the equally controversial Libyan leader announced his arrival by demanding that the European powers who carved up Africa for their own gain should pay for the damage.

"The colonial powers must compensate the people that they colonized and whose riches they plundered," Gadhafi said in a speech at Lisbon University. "This will be one of the main issues of the summit," added Gadhafi whose relations with Europe are just coming out of the deep freeze after the freeing of a group of nurses accused of deliberately infecting children with AIDS.

While Gadhafi's claim to speak for his peers is questionable, his demand highlighted the complexity of ties between Europe and their one-time colonies and how easily the aim of the two-day summit could be blown off course.

Barroso: Europe has neglected its ties with Africa

EU Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has acknowledged Europe has let relations with its old hunting ground drift and there are now plans for such a summit every third year. His words were echoed by EU Aid and Development Commissioner Louis Michel who said that the future of the EU lies in a new relationship with Africa.

The EU and Africa must create "a more responsible and a more political partnership built on greater solidarity,” Michel said. “If we fail, Lisbon will remain in the collective memory as a great missed opportunity.

"We need to consider this summit as a launch pad for a new era in the relationship between Europe and Africa," he added. "This summit must mark the end of a relationship rooted in conservatism and sometimes in prejudice on both sides and mark the start of a recognition of the real opportunities that are at hand for both sides."

Almost 80 heads of state and government from the European and African Unions are set to attend the meeting, which is the second such summit ever and the first since the AU was created in 2002, for talks on cooperation in areas ranging from trade support, energy and migration to education, human rights and science.

Africa betrayed over trade; EU concerned with human rights

Serious differences of opinion, however, remain on issues of trade and human rights, in particular.

On trade, some African countries have accused the EU of trying to strong-arm them into accepting allegedly unfavorable trade deals known as Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), ahead of a World Trade Organization deadline at the end of the year.

Europe remains Africa's biggest trading partner and source of aid but China's growing push into the resource-rich continent as it seeks to fuel its economic growth has shown its influence cannot be taken for granted.

Hopes of a breakthrough on new economic partnership agreements have been dashed this week with South Africa, the continent's economic powerhouse, saying the "detrimental impacts" of the deal offered by the EU had to be addressed.

Mugabe in spotlight, not marginalized

Human rights also looks set to be an explosive issue. EU leaders have promised that the summit will involve a "substantive" debate on the human-rights situation in Zimbabwe, where Mugabe is accused of conducting a reign of terror and destroying the economy.

EU diplomats admit that that risks splitting the summit into pro- and anti-Mugabe camps and derailing talks on other issues. Britain's Prime Minister Brown announced in September that he would boycott the summit if Mugabe attended, saying that Mugabe's presence would "divert attention" from other key topics.

However, the boycott appears to have had the opposite effect, turning the spotlight on Mugabe.

The Zimbabwean leader, who was banned from the EU for allegedly rigging his re-election five years ago, has portrayed his invitation as a slap in the face for Britain whom he accuses of failing to honor commitments to fund land redistribution.

While Britain's delegation has stayed at home, other EU leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, feel the summit offers an opportunity to reproach Mugabe and make their points to him personally.

"There has been a very negative trend in the Zimbabwe regime and this is something we will have to broach," Barroso said. "But this is not just a summit to look at Zimbabwe."

Discussions on issues such as Zimbabwe, efforts to bring peace to Sudan's Darfur region and the conflict in Somalia have not been formally timetabled but are expected to crop up in debates on human rights and peace and security.