EU backs African efforts to defuse Zimbabwe crisis

Facing threats that they will be expelled from Zimbabwe if they support opposition groups, diplomats from the EU member states have agreed to back African efforts to defuse the growing crisis in the country.

Heads of EU member state missions in the Zimbabwean capital Harare met on Tuesday (20 March) and agreed to back efforts by the Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete to restart dialogue between the country’s political parties.

Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Simearashe Mbengegwi summoned foreign diplomats on Monday to warn them that anyone who provided financial or political support to the opposition would be declared persona non grata.

The warning came after a fresh wave of attacks on opposition figures.

Kikwete is expected to go to Zimbabwe to negotiate the release and treatment of political prisoners arrested since this crackdown began on 11 March.

Opposition activist Grace Kwinjeh, deputy foreign affairs spokesperson for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, lost part of her ear after being arrested on 11 March. She was later released but re-arrested after trying to flee Zimbabwe for medical treatment and is now in a hospital in Harare.

Her mother, Ellitah Bere, who lives in Brussels, said: "She is being guarded 24 hours a day. She has lost a lot of blood and is very weak. My sister is there with her, but I cannot go."

Nelson Chamisa, an opposition member of parliament, was badly beaten at Harare airport while trying to get to Brussels on 18 March for a meeting of EU parliamentarians and their counterparts from African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries being held this week (20-23 March).

The former Zimbabwean minister Edward Chindori-Chininga obtained a visa to attend the EU-ACP meeting, despite being on the list of officials banned from travelling to the EU. He came to Belgium but did not attend the meeting. The Belgian government admitted that the visa was issued by mistake.

EU diplomats are discussing plans to expand sanctions and tighten the rules on visa bans. A special meeting of Africa experts from member states’ representations in Brussels is to take place in two weeks’ time.

"We are beginning to look at what instruments we have," said one diplomat. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Wednesday (21 March) that he would look to the EU to extend the assets freeze and travel ban "as far as we can".

Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado said on Monday (19 March) that Zimbabwean leaders should still be invited to an EU-Africa summit to be held in the second half of this year during the Portuguese EU presidency.

German centre-right MEP, Michael Gahler, described Amado’s comments as unnecessary.

"No matter how much the Portuguese want this summit to work they should not throw overboard basic principles," he said.

Facing threats that they will be expelled from Zimbabwe if they support opposition groups, diplomats from the EU member states have agreed to back African efforts to defuse the growing crisis in the country.