Birthday present for Mugabe
Posted, February 19, 2008 @ 00:00
Strasbourg, 19th February 2008 -- The EU has renewed its sanctions targeted against the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe. Under the sanctions, which have been extended until 19th February 2009, key figures in the regime are prevented from travelling to Europe and are subject to an asset-freeze.
Geoffrey Van Orden MEP, who has spearheaded the attack on the Mugabe regime in the European Parliament, commented:
"I am reassured by the renewal of these sanctions. Mugabe will be 84 on Thursday and this is exactly the birthday present he deserves.
"But the EU has a poor track record in upholding its own sanctions policy. After all, it invited Mugabe himself - top of the banned list - to its EU-Africa Summit last December.
"The EU has not bothered to update the list of targeted individuals. There is no mention of Gideon Gono, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, who has been the willing instrument of Mugabe's disastrous and oppressive economic policy, nor of Leo Mugabe, the President's own nephew and a prominent member of the Zimbabwean Parliament.
"We are coming up to another crucial moment for Zimbabwe, with Presidential and Parliamentary elections due on March 29th. International observers have effectively been excluded from monitoring the electoral process and the opposition faces daily intimidation from a desperate regime.
"The EU should be calling on President Mbeki of South Africa, who is supposed to be performing a mediation role in Zimbabwe, to insist that international observers and the international media are given unrestricted access to ensure free and fair elections."
Geoffrey Van Orden is Defence Spokesman for the Conservatives in the European Parliament and Conservative MEP for the East of England