Europe and Africa will proclaim a new "strategic partnership" of equals at an unprecedented gathering of leaders in Lisbon this weekend, aiming to draw a line under 50 years of uneasy post-colonial relations.

Yet the cocktails, concerts and banquets will be overshadowed by the legacy of the past, with protesters outside highlighting the conflict in Darfur and the presence of Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean leader accused of human rights abuses and election rigging.