14/12/2001
Ban Mugabe From European Union, Says MEP

Increasingly concerned at the continuing abuse of freedom and human rights in Zimbabwe, the European Parliament is to debate a Resolution next week demanding that the EU takes a series of restrictive measures against President Mugabe and his senior associates. These include travels bans and the freezing of assets of Zanu-PF politicians.

The matter was brought to a head this week by the news that President Mugabe is in Spain where he is receiving treatment for an eye disorder.

"The fact that President Mugabe can obtain medical help from Spain - at a time when the health service in Zimbabwe has collapsed, and the incidence of HIV/AIDS has hit staggering proportions - supports the case which we have been making for EU-wide visa restrictions on President Mugabe and his close associates," said Mrs Glenys Kinnock, a leading member of the European Parliament.

The MEP said that she had contacted her Spanish colleagues in the European Parliament, to relay her concerns. "It is shocking to note that at the same time, the Treasurer of the Opposition Party, the Movement for Democratic Change, Mr Fletcher Dunili, is languishing in prison in Harare with severely impaired and rapidly deteriorating eyesight," she added.

Tension is mounting in Zimbabwe ahead of the Presidential elections scheduled for next April. Mr Mugabe has refused to accept an EU mission to observe the poll, saying that this would constitute unwarrantable interference with Zimbabwe's internal affairs. However, a fair presidential poll is one of the conditions being attached to aid worth $26 million that has been promised by the United States. Other conditions include the restoration of the rule of law, particularly in regard to property rights, free speech, and action to assist in ending the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo where Mr Mugabe is keeping an army. However the ageing President has shown no sign of changing his policies to fall in with world opinion. Meanwhile, his country is sliding ever deeper into crisis with a shambling economy, soaring fuel prices and a 25 per cent HIV infection rate. Agricultural production has also slumped as the country's productive farms have been expropriated by so-called 'war veterans' resulting in widespread food shortages in a country that was once the breadbasket of southern Africa.

"The EU should note the fact that the worsening crisis in Zimbabwe clearly makes no difference to President Mugabe because he can leave the country, and he has the resources to afford private health care in Europe," said Mrs Kinnock, "In these circumstances - what chance is there of having free and democratic Presidential elections?"