Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has said his government could “reciprocate” after his wife and five officials were denied visas to attend a conference in Switzerland last week.

In the online edition of Zimbabwe’s The Herald newspaper, Mugabe said, “now they [the Swiss] are showing that they are vicious and we will reciprocate because they have their properties here. We are not without means to reciprocate."

Mugabe cancelled a trip to attend the Telecom World 2011 conference in Geneva after his wife and the officials were refused Swiss visas.

Mugabe and his entourage have been subject to a European Union visa ban since 2002, over accusations of electoral fraud, violations of human rights and repression of the media.

However, this ban is not normally applied in the case of summits organised by the United Nations or its agencies, such as the Telecom meeting.

"As host country, you should undertake not to inhibit or prohibit visits on UN business," Mugabe added.

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