EU renews Zim sanctions
2005-02-21 15:26
Special Report
Zimbabwe’s PM Morgan Tsvangirai has called for openness in the country’s nascent diamond trade, getting underway after the lifting of a global ban over rights abuses.
A dusty road leads to the village of Wedza, where veterans of Zimbabwe's liberation war eke out a meagre living on their farm cooperative, which after a promising start now brings only despair.
Brussels - >European Union foreign ministers renewed sanctions against Zimbabwe for another year on Monday, but said they could be reexamined after parliamentary elections next month.
The 25 EU ministers said they had seen no change in the dictatorial rule of President Robert Mugabe that would justify an end to the sanctions.
The measures, first implemented three years ago in response to the political and human rights situation, include a ban on Mugabe and other government officials from traveling to EU countries.
The sanctions apply to all senior officials "who commit human rights violations and restrict freedom of opinion, association and peaceful protest", said an EU resolution.
Last year the ban was extended from 79 to 95 people.
Other sanctions include a ban on arms sales and the freezing of Zimbabwean assets in European banks.
The extension was passed unanimously without debate at the EU foreign ministers meeting.
The EU's sanctions, however, have been derided by members of the European Parliament who call them too lax and not fully enforced.
The European Parliament slammed French President Jacques Chirac for hosting Mugabe in a visit to Paris in 2003, despite the travel ban.
The EU assembly would like to send monitors to the elections, but Mugabe already has said no Western election observers will be admitted.
- SAPA