Brussels, 20/12/2004 (Agence Europe) - During its emergency debates last Thursday, the European Parliament adopted a resolution again urging the EU to fill the gaps still afflicting the EU's targeted sanctions on the Mugabe regime and ensure the sanctions are strictly applied. The EU was also urged to support the efforts made at international level to ensure the holding of free and fair elections in Zimbabwe and provide technical assistance for local, regional and international observer missions. The EP notes that the African Union must continue to monitor the situation in Zimbabwe, particularly with regard to human and civil rights and invites Zimbabwe's neighbours, like the South African President Thabo Mbeki to work to achieve positive changes in the country. The EP also wants an immediate cessation of political interference in the distribution of international food aid, noting that 75% of the population, some 9 million people, are living under the poverty line but the World Food Programme has only been able to provide food aid to 1.6 million people because of interference from the Mugabe regime.
The European Parliament is calling for the immediate liberation of MP Roy Bennet, who was the target of a hateful persecution campaign during the five years after his election to parliament, and who was condemned on 28 October to twelve months in prison with hard labour on false allegations and is currently being held in Mutoko in dreadful conditions.