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UK eyes tougher Zim sanctions
14/07/2008 14:56 - (SA)
Paris - British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Monday he would seek wider European sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe at an EU ministers' meeting next week.
"We are looking at a deeper hit on the financial sector and a wider travel ban," Miliband told reporters in Paris.
He said the extension of European Union sanctions against Zimbabwe, which currently target 132 individuals, would be addressed at a meeting of European foreign ministers in Brussels on July 22 and 23.
Britain said last week it was seeking tougher EU sanctions after a bid to pass United Nations sanctions against Zimbabwe's leadership was vetoed by Security Council members Russia and China.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office said on Sunday that London would seek to add 36 individuals linked to Mugabe's regime to the blacklist as well as two state-owned companies in Zimbabwe.
Miliband did not confirm the figure of 36, saying "there are lists circulating".
He said he had discussed extending the sanctions with several EU foreign ministers on Sunday and that "there's an understanding of the importance of this".
"Europe has a united world view, we have a set of values that we stand up for. This is a opportunity for Europe to speak up, and I think it should take it," Miliband added.
The foreign secretary stressed the sanctions were "not an economic boycott", saying "the test is targeting those members of the regime who are propping up Mugabe".
Miliband reaffirmed Britain's disappointment at Moscow and Beijing Russia for blocking the adoption of UN sanctions.
"Why would China and Russia veto a resolution aimed at 14 people who are directly responsible for the maintenance of the regime?
"The answer they have given is this is not a regional crisis... When you have got four million refugees I don't see how you can say it's not a regional crisis."
Mugabe was re-elected in a run-off last month after his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out, citing a campaign of intimidation and violence against his supporters that killed dozens and injured thousands.
Brown's office said on Saturday that Britain, the former colonial power in Zimbabwe, would return to the UN Security Council if there is no quick end to violence in the southern African state.
The British prime minister was quoted as saying on the sidelines of a Mediterranean summit in Paris on Sunday that he was "determined that we step up the pressure" on Mugabe's regime.
- AFP
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