EU urged to put pressure on Mugabe

Date: 19/07/01

Zimbabwe's autocratic leader Robert Mugabe should be prevented from travelling to EU states unless he can guarantee that next year's presidential election in his country will be free from fraud and intimidation, a human rights body has urged.

The Internationational Crisis Group (ICG) is also advocating that the Union should consider invoking the Cotonou Agreement, reached last year between the Union and the 71-member African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) bloc, against Zimbabwe.

The ICG chief, former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans, believes the EU's policy towards Mugabe's regime should be modelled on the strategy it devised to encourage the defeat of former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.

In particular, it should focus on support for the democratic opposition to the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF). "It is up to the people of Zimbabwe to determine their future but at the moment they have no chance of being able to do that, and the pro-reform movement needs all the international support it can get," said Evans.

In a report, the group notes EU foreign ministers agreed in June that they would take "appropriate measures" against Mugabe if progress on reducing repression was not made by early September. Under the Cotonou Agreement, the EU may end the "open dialogue" it has established with Harare and halt the flow of aid there.

Many diplomats question whether this action would be productive, however. As Zimbabwe is one of the richest African states, it receives only €10 million in EU assistance.

Another factor which could prevent stringent measures being taken is that Belgium, the current holder of the Union's presidency, is keen to maintain links with Mugabe to consolidate the peace process in Central Africa.

Zimbabwe's autocratic leader Robert Mugabe should be prevented from travelling to EU states unless he can guarantee that next year's presidential election in his country will be free from fraud and intimidation, a human rights body has urged.