Maravi

(NEWZIMBABWE, REUTERS) Britain resists sanctions pressure

Britain resists sanctions pressure
by Adrian Croft
04/03/2010 00:00:00

BRITAIN said on Thursday it wanted to see further progress on human rights and democracy in Zimbabwe before the European Union lifts sanctions against President Robert Mugabe and his allies.

"The sanctions that the European Union has in place do not target Zimbabwe or Zimbabweans, they target individuals who are responsible for violence and a number of businesses linked to them," Prime Minister GordonBrown said at a news conference with visiting South African President Jacob Zuma.

"We have reduced sanctions on some companies, we are ready to respond to other progress as it is made but I do emphasise the importance of the work of these (Zimbabwe) commissions in emphasising human rights, the freedom of the press and the reforms of governance," he added.

Mugabe and his rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai formed a unity government last year and have agreed on commissions to drive media, electoral and human rights reforms.

But the commissions have been slow to get off the ground and the two sides remain at odds over other issues.

After their economy collapsed, about three million Zimbabweans fled to regional power South Africa, which has been trying to broker a solution to the crisis.

[That's bull, and I challenge Adrian Croft to supply a credible source for that number. He should also explain why 'the economy collapsed' or rather the trade surplus collapsed only in 2002, the year ZDERA was introduced - MrK]

"We are agreed that we should all put out heads together to find a solution in Zimbabwe so that Zimbabwe could move forward," said Zuma, in Britain on a three-day state visit.

He told the news conference there was the risk that some Zimbabweans could blame sanctions for stalling progress.

Zuma said: “If the Zimbabwean issue is not moving forward, certainly some people could use sanctions as an excuse, to say ‘because we are sanctioned how do we operate?’

“Zimbabweans have said, for an example, within the government some people are free to travel all over the world, others are not, they are restricted.

“These are matters we have talked about (with Brown) ... There is no equality in that kind of situation.” - Reuters

Labels: GORDON BROWN, JACOB ZUMA, SANCTIONS, ZDERA

posted by MrK @ 9:02 PM