EU to keep diplomatic mission in Zimbabwe despite Mugabe election

Africa News

Jun 30, 2008, 12:43 GMT

Brussels - The European Union will not withdraw its delegation from Zimbabwe, despite the illegitimacy of President Robert Mugabe's election victory and acts of intimidation perpetrated against its staff in Harare, officials said Monday. 'The coming months will be difficult for Zimbabwe, so I think we need to provide assistance to these people,' Xavier Marchal, the EU's head of delegation in Harare, told journalists via video link with Brussels. 'The (European) commission delegation should remain here and should be as active as it has been hitherto, if not more,' he added. The European Union's executive committed 90 million euros (142 million dollars) in funds last year to help pay for a variety of projects covering health, basic education, food aid and the upholding of human rights. 'I haven't met anybody in Zimbabwe, irrespective of their political views, who has said that what we have done over the last few years hasn't been a good thing,' Marchal said. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has been among those calling for EU member states to withdraw their ambassadors from Harare in protest at Friday's presidential runoff, which election observers say was neither free nor fair. Marchal said that while Mugabe 'definitely does not have a clear mandate to govern the country,' he did not agree with Frattini's view, noting that his office tended to recognize states rather than governments. The EU's delegation in Harare currently consists of 50 people, including 12 officials. And Marchal said several staff members had approached him in recent weeks to denounce acts of 'direct intimidation' carried out against them by supporters of the Mugabe regime. 'I told them to go through this period as best they can and to be very, very careful about their own security,' Marchal said. The European official said it was too early to assess what kind of additional sanctions, if any, should be applied on Zimbabwe. But he noted that while the EU has not stopped trade relations with the country, its decision to impose a travel ban and to freeze the assets of the regime's top officials had been 'very effective'. In a separate statement Monday, Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel reiterated his view that it was not possible to recognize the legitimacy of the election, which Mugabe claims he won with 90 per cent of all valid votes cast. 'This victory has simply been an exercise in power-grabbing and is far from the spirit of change and renaissance currently seen across Africa,' Michel said as he called on the African Union to find a political solution to the crisis. African Union leaders, including Mugabe, were meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday, with the Zimbabwe crisis expected to dominate proceedings.

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Mwoyo ChiranduJul 1st, 2008 - 13:00:15

Who said Zimbabwe was expected to dominate the African Union Summit in Egypt? The Summit agenda has been very clear from the start and there is no mention of Zimbabwe anywhere in it. Please, let's not try and promote our varried causes by lying to readers.

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