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UK calls for tough sanctions
21/03/2007 14:36 - (SA)
London - British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Britain would urge the European Union to impose tougher sanctions on Zimbabwe, describing the situation there as "appalling, disgraceful and utterly tragic".
"We will press the European Union to widen the political sanctions that were introduced in 2002 and introduced very much as a result of our prompting at the time," Blair told parliament during his weekly question-and-answer session.
"That assets freeze and travel ban we will seek to extend as far as we can."
Blair echoed foreign secretary Margaret Beckett's view that, in the light of growing concern at violence towards opposition groups, action was needed from the United Nations Security Council and the UN Human Rights Commission.
"We will be urging partners in both those institutions to come out with strong statements against what is happening in Zimbabwe, which is appalling, disgraceful and utterly tragic for the people of Zimbabwe," he told lawmakers.
Belgium on Tuesday admitted that a visa was issued by mistake to a close aide of President Robert Mugabe, despite him being on an EU blacklist and banned from travelling in the bloc.
Mugabe himself and his entourage are banned from travelling to Europe under EU sanctions on Zimbabwe since 2002 for human rights violations.
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