Harare | Wednesday
ZIMBABWE’S government has rejected an ultimatum issued by the European Union to decide whether to allow EU observers in the country during next year’s presidential elections, Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge said on Tuesday.
Mudenge said Zimbabwe would have considered an offer for observers, but will not accept “demands” from other countries because it is a “sovereign state”.
He vowed that Zimbabwe would not allow European states to play a “Milosevic” game try to remove Mugabe from office, under the guise of election observing.
The minister spoke shortly after arrival from Brussels where he had talks with Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel on Monday during which the EU offered to deploy election observers and a pre-poll evaluators.
Zimbabwe had been asked to give its response by Sunday ahead of an EU council of ministers meeting next Monday.
“They demanded that Zimbabwe should accept an EU pre-election commission …and that Zimbabwe should accept EU observers during the presidential elections,” Mudenge said.
“I told him (Michel) that Zimbabwe does not accept demands.. we are a sovereign and independent state,” Mudenge told news conference.
“If we start to go into the habit of receiving demands we lose our sovereignty,” he said.
Zimbabwe is due to hold elections early next year when President Robert Mugabe’s current term expires.
The foreign minister said had the offer been made in good will it could have been considered.
“If it had not made an ultimatum, it would have been good,” he said, but added that the great interest shown at potential involvement in Zimbabwe’s elections raised suspicions.
Mudenge said he told Michel that he suspected there was “poison” in the demand and vowed that he would not allow EU countries to sponsor opposition parties in Zimbabwe.
“We want them to stop it and we want to tell them don’t try the Milosevic in Zimbabwe… we will not allow it to happen in Zimbabwe,” he vowed.
He said western nations went into Yugoslavia early before elections on the pretext of evaluating and observing polls yet they were organising and sponsoring the opposition to remove Milosevic.
“We don’t want them to undermine the situation (here). We don’t want to give them the opportunity to play that mischief here,” he said.
Government has always accused the former colonial power of funding the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in a bid to oust Mugabe.
Mudenge said while the Commonwealth had made an offer to help Zimbabwe with observers but the EU is making “demands and orders, threats and ultimatums.”
Under the Cotonou accords between the EU and former European colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and South Pacific, sanctions can be imposed if high-level political talks fail to overcome human rights differences.
Mudenge said that next Tuesday he would brief the regular weekly cabinet meeting on his trip and “unfortunately the EU council would have met on Monday.” – AFP