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UK prepares for post-Mugabe Zim
22/03/2007 18:42 - (SA)
London - Britain has begun preparations to work with a new government in Zimbabwe once President Robert Mugabe leaves office including humanitarian aid, said a foreign office spokesperson on Thursday.
"We're beginning to think about what we could contribute following a transition and we're preparing support options including economic and humanitarian activity," she said.
The spokesperson declined to give further details.
Unnamed senior officials at the foreign office, meanwhile, believe that 2007 may be a "pivotal" year for Zimbabwe, Britain's Press Association news agency reported on Thursday.
Increased violence
The former colonial power is looking to the future as international pressure on Mugabe builds following increased violence against the opposition and an economy heading for collapse.
Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Wednesday that he wanted the European Union to widen political sanctions against the regime, which were brought in 2002.
And foreign secretary Margaret Beckett has called for action from the United Nations Security Council and the UN Human Rights Commission.
The leader of the lower House of Commons Jack Straw said on Thursday a foreign office minister would make a statement on the situation in Zimbabwe to parliament on Monday.
Blair on Wednesday called recent events "appalling, disgraceful and utterly tragic for the people of Zimbabwe".
Mugabe's Zanu-PF says that the existing sanctions hurt ordinary people and has accused countries, including Britain and the United States, of a personal vendetta against the 83-year-old president.
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