June 1 (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe has left Zimbabwe to attend a food summit in Rome in his first official trip abroad since March 29 parliamentary elections which his ruling party lost to the opposition, state television said on Sunday.

Here are some facts about Mugabe:

* Once hailed as a model African democrat, Mugabe has held fast to power for years despite a deepening political and economic crisis that critics blame on his policies.

* Mugabe was born in February 1924 on the Kutama Mission northwest of Harare and educated by Jesuits. He earned seven university degrees, three while in prison.

* Mugabe was jailed for 10 years in 1964 for opposing white minority rule. A guerrilla war began in 1972 against Ian Smith's white government of then-Rhodesia.

* Mugabe became leader of the ZANU liberation movement in the mid-1970s after his release from jail.

* The renamed ZANU-PF won independence elections in 1980 and Mugabe became prime minister. He took office as president in 1987 following a change in the constitution.

* In 2000, Mugabe tasted defeat when voters in a referendum rejected a constitution that would have given him more power. He turned on the small white minority, blaming them.

* He pushed legislation through parliament allowing his government to seize over half the white-owned farms. Self-styled war veterans occupied many other farms, often with violence.

* Mugabe was elected to his third term as president in 2002 but his crackdown against the MDC and other opponents, including journalists, increased his international isolation.

* Mugabe's party lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in the March 2008 elections. Official results showed that opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai also beat Mugabe in the presidential elections, but not by enough to avoid a run-off.

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(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ ) (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)

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