Mugabe sanctions ‘need boost’

Date: 18/07/02

HUMAN rights activists want EU foreign ministers to ensure that sanctions on Zimbabwe's dictatorial regime are implemented more effectively.

The ministers will discuss latest developments in the African state, including its food shortages, at their Brussels meeting next week (22-23 July).

London-based group Save Zimbabwe is urging them to examine how sanctions imposed on Robert Mugabe and his henchmen in February can have a bigger impact. 'Millions of Zimbabweans now face famine because of the incompetence and corruption of this illegal regime,' said group spokesman Terence Fane-Saunders.

'We need smart sanctions to target the corrupt and properly directed aid to save the innocent.'

Socialist Glenys Kinnock and other MEPs have argued the scope of the measures should target all cabinet members, leading figures in the ruling Zanu PF party and their families, as well as business chiefs.

Two weeks ago the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning the 'trumped-up' treason charges against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who led an unsuccessful attempt to defeat Mugabe in the March presidential election.

• Earlier this week, Mugabe had a commercial flight from Harare to London diverted to Madrid to catch a connecting flight to Cuba. The rest of the passengers arrived hours late at their destination.

Human rights activists want EU foreign ministers to ensure that sanctions on Zimbabwe's dictatorial regime are implemented more effectively.