Brussels, 26/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - As agreed, EU foreign ministers, meeting in Brussels on 26 January under the chairmanship of Karel Schwarzenberg, extended sanctions by a year against the Robert Mugabe regime which has bankrupted the country and brought the people to their knees. They further toughened the sanctions by adding 28 people and 36 companies to the list of individuals and organisations already targeted by the CFSP's so called “intelligent” sanctions, because they do not hit the people (see EUROPE 9825). The decision to extend visa restrictions and freezing of assets in Europe of “additional persons and entities that are actively associated with the violence or human rights infringements of the regime”, as the Council puts it in its conclusions, was adopted without debate. The EU also called on Africa to work to set Zimbabwe on the road to democracy. Ministers re-affirmed that the EU stood ready to support the economic and social recovery of Zimbabwe once a government that reflects the will of the Zimbabwean people had been formed and had shown “tangible signs of a return to respect for human rights, the rule of law and macroeconomic stabilisation”.
In its conclusions, the Council said that the constant deterioration of the political, economic, social, humanitarian and health situation in Zimbabwe “stands in stark contrast to the duties and responsibilities of governments, according to global and regional standards and charters, not least the SADC principles” and that “the victims of this misrule are the Zimbabwean people”.
Ministers expressed their particular distress at the worsening of the humanitarian crisis, added to by the cholera epidemic which has taken so many lives and which “threatens the health security of the neighbouring countries and of the region as a whole”. The Council called on the Zimbabwean government to fully respect the principles of humanitarian aid and, in particular, respect for the principle of impartiality and equal access to humanitarian aid for the entire Zimbabwean people.
Believing that “only in the context of a durable, equitable, political solution can the economic, social and humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe be fully addressed”, the Council called on the SADC (Southern African Development Council), the African Union and states in the region to “pave actively the way for a truly representative democratic government reflecting the will of the Zimbabwean people” expressed in the election of March 2008, when Morgan Tsvangiri, the opposition leader, was declared the winner of the first round of the presidential elections.
The Council expressed its concern at the growing trade in illicit diamonds that provides financial support for the regime, and backed action to investigate the exploitation of diamonds from the site at Marange/Chiadzwa and their significance in possible financial support to the regime and recent human rights abuses against diamond prospectors and sellers. It also called on the Kimberley Process to take action to ensure Zimbabwe's compliance with its Kimberley obligations. (A.N./transl.rt)