Maravi

(HERALD) President to table sanctions issue at Sadc, says Gumbo

President to table sanctions issue at Sadc, says Gumbo
Tuesday, 19 July 2011 02:00
Herald Reporter

PRESIDENT Mugabe will table the issue of the West's illegal economic sanctions at the Sadc Summit to be held mid-next month in Angola backed by the voices of over 2,2 million Zimbabweans who signed the National Anti-Sanctions Petition, Zanu-PF spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo has said.

Zimbabweans countrywide signed the petition following the launch of the campaign in March that drew tens of thousands of people from all walks of life, among them academics, political, business and religious leaders.

Cde Gumbo yesterday said the people's position on sanctions would also be raised at other regional and international forums such as the African Union and the United Nations.
"We have collected more than two million signatures and we are waiting for the President to announce the decision on the results of the campaign. He (President Mugabe) will go with that result to the forthcoming Sadc summit to be held in Angola next month.

"People have spoken strongly against these illegal sanctions and we cannot ignore their voices. It is our understanding that the same message will be sent to those countries that have imposed sanctions on us," he said.

Cde Gumbo said numerous events were also lined up across the country as the anti-sanctions campaign gathers momentum.

Said Cde Gumbo: "From next month, we will be making tours across the country campaigning against sanctions. We will also stage demonstrations and marches at various centres to be announced in due course.

"We are also going to have an anti-sanctions gala to be held next month as a way of campaigning against these ruinous sanctions," he said.

Cde Gumbo said the campaign had so far received overwhelming respo-nse from Zimbabweans across the political divide.

The United States, EU, Australia and New Zealand imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe following Government's decision to acquire land from white former commercial farmers for distribution to the landless black majority.

Sadc, Comesa, the AU, the Non Aligned Movement and other progressive people and organisations the world over have denounced the illegal embargo which precipitated the economic decline of the past decade.

Zimbabwe's local business community has also slammed the widely discredited embargo, arguing that it was causing major setbacks to economic recovery.

It is only the two MDC formations that have remained mum on the sanctions. This is despite their commitment in the Global Political Agreement that they would campaign for the lifting of the embargo.

Recently, Sadc sent a high level delegation to a number of European capitals calling for the lifting of illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe.

However, little headway has been made since the European Union and the United States of America are not willing to lift the sanctions claiming that Zimbabwe had not fully implemented the GPA and that there was no consensus on the sanctions in government.

This is despite that Zimbabwe has implemented all outstanding GPA issues with the only remaining issue being the removal of the illegal sanctions.

Zimbabwe has also set a local reengagement team to Europe that has also failed to make significant impact.

Labels: GLOBAL POLITICAL AGREEMENT, ROBERT MUGABE, RUGARE GUMBO, SADC, SANCTIONS, ZDERA

posted by MrK @ 5:24 PM