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(NEWZIMBABWE) Zuma to press EU on sanctions

Zuma to press EU on sanctions
by Staff Reporter
28/09/2010 00:00:00

SOUTH Africa would press again this week for the EU to lift targeted sanctions against Zimbabwe, foreign affairs spokesman Saul Kgomotso Molobi said on Monday. President Jacob Zuma was scheduled to leave the country for a one-day annual EU-South Africa summit in Brussels, followed by an official visit to Belgium.

If the EU asked about progress in Zimbabwe - as seemed likely given that South Africa is the main power-broker in the country - Zuma would renew his calls for the EU to lift travel bans and asset freezes on President Robert Mugabe and about 200 of his allies, Molobi said.

The EU has also frozen the assets of 33 Zimbabwean companies and bans arms shipments to Zimbabwe.

"South Africa will set out the African Union position, which calls for the lifting of sanctions on Zimbabwe," Molobi said.

South Africa, which brokered Zimbabwe's 2008 power-sharing accord, believed that ending the punitive measures is key to creating cohesion between Zanu-PF and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, he said.

Zuma also called for the sanctions to be lifted during a visit to Britain earlier this year.

Mugabe maintains that the measures, which were first levied in 2002, are hampering the country's recovery from an economic meltdown in 2008.

However the EU insists the sanctions are targeted against companies and individuals associated with rights abuses in the country.

At a recent conference on Zimbabwe in Johannesburg, Germany's ambassador to Zimbabwe, Albrecht Conze, said: "There are strictly no restrictions on trade with Zimbabwe, investment in Zimbabwe or on foreign banks lending money to Zimbabwe."

Labels: EU, JACOB ZUMA, SANCTIONS, SAUL KGOMOTSO MOLOBI, ZDERA

posted by MrK @ 12:54 PM