Govt Escaped More EU Sanctions – Wikileaks

Paidamoyo Muzulu

20 May 2011

ZIMBABWE only just managed to avoid further punitive sanctions by the EU in September 2008 when Zanu PF and the MDC formations signed a Sadc-facilitated power-sharing agreement, according to diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.

The cables from Helsinki, Finland, said the EU was on the verge of reviewing travel and economic sanctions with a view to increasing and strengthening them when the power-sharing deal was brokered.

Finland’s policy chief in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Unit for European Common Foreign and Security Policy, Leena-Kaisa Mikkola, said the EU was on the verge of imposing new restrictions on Zimbabwe.

“The EU was considering strengthening the sanctions, but given the recent political breakthrough the EU will not consider additional or stronger sanctions,” Mikkola said. “The ministers will welcome the recent deal between (President Robert) Mugabe and the opposition, and the EU will stand ready to plan its role in reconstruction efforts,” Mikkola said in the cable.

The cable further quotes Mikkola saying the EU remained cautious in its dealings with the new dispensation in Zimbabwe and had no concrete reconstruction plan at that juncture.

“Mikkola was unsure how the ministers would deal with existing sanctions; she doubted the ministers would take action to remove them and thought they would adopt a “wait and see” approach,” reads the cable.

The EU and US imposed travel bans against Mugabe and his political allies and the sanctions also bar other countries from selling arms to Zimbabwe and doing business with companies owned by specified individuals.

The US also froze lines of credit to Zimbabwe.

However, the EU and US renewed the sanctions last year arguing that the inclusive government had not made sufficient progress in implementing the GPA since its formation.

The sanctions issue has been one of Zanu PF’s sore points in the GPA and the former liberation movement has pegged full implementation of the GPA on the lifting of these sanctions.

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