Copenhagen, Harare | Thursday
AS Denmark signalled it’s intention to cut aid to Zimbabwe, and other nations maintained by ‘dictators’, Zimbabwe’s Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge slammed the European Union and the Commonwealth for threatening sanctions, accusing the bodies of perpetuating “an archaic colonial relationship”.
Mudenge’s comments were the first official government reaction to an EU demand on Monday for Zimbabwe to agree by February 3 to allow a European observer team to monitor polls on March 9-10.
If Harare refuses to accept the observers, EU foreign ministers said they would apply “targetted sanctions” against Mugabe’s regime.
Other than Zimbabwe, Denmark moved on Thursday to end aid to Malawi and Eritrea, and to reduce aid to Uganda, because it “does not want to maintain dictators in power,” the foreign ministry said.
The decision was included in the draft budget for 2002 presented by Finance Minister Thor Pedersen on Tuesday, which slashed the aid Denmark will pay to developing countries by 201-million euros ($173 million dollars).
“We have to use our money in an appropriate and efficient manner, and that holds true in the domain of international cooperation, too,” Pedersen told the public television channel DR1, on Tuesday night.
“We have always said that we do not want to support countries which are ruled by dictators,” he added.
Pedersen singled out Mugabe’s government for criticism.
“The reason we are totally stopping aid to Zimbabwe at the moment is because President Robert Mugabe practices state terrorism. I think it would be shameful for Denmark to sustain a cooperation partnership with such a nation,” the minister said.
“Denmark’s international cooperation partners must respect human rights, fight corruption and follow sound business practises,” Pedersen said, adding that any countries that slipped from those principles risked “no longer benefiting from our aid.”
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge on Thursday slammed the European Union and the Commonwealth for threatening sanctions, accusing the bodies of perpetuating “an archaic colonial relationship”.
The statement came a day after the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) voiced concern over President Robert Mugabe’s crackdown on political opponents ahead of March presidential elections.
“It is clear to us that the manner in which the situation in this country is being treated by the CMAG and the EU is an attempt to perpetuate an archaic colonial relationship between Europe and Africa,” Mudenge told the official Ziana news agency.
“We have no dialogue, but a monologue, for although we have raised our own concerns about external interference, we have received neither a response nor an acknowledgement,” he said.
On Monday, Mugabe invited several organisations, mostly of African states, to send observers to the election.
The EU and the Commonwealth were invited, but he specifically excluded Britain from joining their teams.
Mugabe also said the EU could only come as part of a joint delegation with the ACP grouping of African, Caribbean and Pacific nations, which the ACP would lead.
The EU and the ACP nations, including Zimbabwe, offer each other trade privileges through an agreement signed in Cotonou in June 2000. – AFP