The European Union is set to lift its sanctions on Zimbabwe that has been in-force since February 2002 on the country.
The EU’s initial sanctions on Zimbabwe was travel bans and freezing bank accounts but was later developed to more than 200 targeted individuals and 40-odd companies in the mining sector linked to President Robert Mugabe and his Zimbabwean African National Union-Patriotic Front part (ZANU-PF).
The expected santions lift has been slated for next week but the EU further said it will keep a travel ban and asset freeze on President Robert Mugabe and his wife.
EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton told the European Parliament that sanctions the lift is designed to encourage positive change in Zimbabwe while retaining some leverage over President Mugabe to pursue reforms aimed at strengthening the Zimbabwean economy.
“It does seem a time to move forward and the sense is that Zimbabwe is moving, we need to respond, I think we probably are now in the right place to do this on the basis that if things go badly we can move back again’’, she said.
EU sanctions on Zimbabwe are renewed annually since it were imposed in 2002 and are due for review by February 20.
The EU is expected to announced next week that sanctions will be suspended on eight of the 10 Zimbabweans affected by asset freezes and travel bans in recognition that the country has made some progress in reforms. The EU said the eight are a key decision-makers in the Zimbabwean economy.
Another EU sources quoted by the Reuters African Service that the NationalTurk’s sighted upon has it that, the EU will still keep its arms embargo on Zimbabwe which include the Defence Industries, and apart from President Mugabi and his wife Grace still under sanctions, scores of people and companies that were previously suspended will also remain suspended.
But for the first time in close to 12 years, President Mugabe has been officially invited to attend the Africa-EU leaders summit in the Belgian capital, Brussels in April but president Mugabe has not yet confirmed his participation.
An anonymouse senior government official in the Zimbabwean government told the BBC African Service last week that the country needs some $27 billion, which is more than twice the size of its economy to fund a five-year development plan to improve basic services and rebuild and improve the country.
The EU resisted calls by bodies such as the Southern African Development Community to lift sanctions when Zimbabwe’s unity government was formed on February 2009. The US also paid no attention to such calls making the Zimbabwean economy one of the worse in Africa.
Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News
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