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Analyst: Easing EU Sanctions on Mugabe Allies 'Serious Blunder'

   Peter Clottey  February 15, 2011
   Zimbabwean  President  Robert  Mugabe,  right, chats to Prime Minister
   Morgan  Tsavangirai during their end of year press conference at State
   House in Harare, saying they were dispelling rumors of disunity in the
   Government of National Unity, Dec. 20, 2010

Photo: AP

   Zimbabwean  President  Robert  Mugabe,  right, chats to Prime Minister
   Morgan  Tsavangirai during their end of year press conference at State
   House in Harare, saying they were dispelling rumors of disunity in the
   Government of National Unity, Dec. 20, 2010

   The  deputy  chairman of the National Constitutional Assembly in South
   Africaâs  capital,  Pretoria,  told  VOA  the European Union âbetrayed
   oppressedâ  Zimbabweans  after  the  EU  dropped  sanctions against 35
   allies of President Robert Mugabe.

   George  Mkwananzi  said  many Zimbabweans are shocked and disappointed
   that  the  European  Union will revise its sanctions, in his words, to
   the detriment of the victims of ongoing violence allegedly perpetrated
   by supporters of President Mugabeâs ZANU-PF party.

   âThe  European  Union  is making a serious blunder by scaling down and
   even  reducing  the  numbers  of those people who are on the sanctions
   list  at  a  time  that  we  expect them to be increasing the list and
   tightening  even  the  conditions  of  the  sanctions because there is
   nothing really to reward there at home (Zimbabwe),â said Mkwananzi.

   âWhen  you take some people off the sanctions, you are actually saying
   that you have done a good job, we have seen some significant progress.
   But,  in  this  case,  we  have  seen  the  reversal  of what has been
   considered as progress. So, this move may have been ill-timed.â

   The  individuals were on a list of people banned from traveling to the
   EU  and  whose assets in the bloc were frozen because of their ties to
   the  Zimbabwean leader. The EU extended the sanctions for another year
   on 163 people, including Mr. Mugabe, and 31 businesses.

   Mkwananzi  said  the European Union committed, in his words, a serious
   gaffe by lifting sanctions against Mr. Mugabeâs allies.

   âWhen  you  witness  an upsurge in violence, at a time when things are
   supposed  to  be  cooling  down in preparation for elections, when you
   expect  the  process  of constitution-making to be teetering towards a
   conclusion,  which  is  going  to create grounds for election which is
   going  to  be  free  and  fair,  you  have this which, in fact, is the
   opposite  and  nemesis  of  what one will consider conditions that are
   ripe for elections,â said Mkwananzi.

   âYou  cannot reward such a situation. I donât know what kind of lenses
   these people (EU) are using, which gives them such a bleared vision of
   the situation in Zimbabwe.â

   EU  foreign  policy  Chief  Catherine  Ashton  said  Zimbabwe has made
   âsignificant  progressâ  toward  addressing  its  economic  crisis and
   delivering basic services to its citizens. However, she said political
   reforms  in  Zimbabwe  have  not  kept  pace,  and said she was deeply
   concerned  about  a  recent  surge in violence, mainly in the capital,
   Harare.

   The  ZANU-PF  and  Movement  for  Democratic  Change  (MDC)  formed  a
   contentious power-sharing government in 2009 after disputed elections.
   President  Mugabe  has  proposed that new elections be held this year,
   two years ahead of schedule.

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