London | Wednesday
AFRICA-watchers in London said that EU sanctions on President Robert Mugabe’s regime would sting his pride but have a limited effect, while the anti-corruption group Transparency International warned of reprisals from the Zimbabwe government.
Mugabe was targeted on Monday by European Union sanctions, which include a freeze on the overseas assets of the president and 19 top officials, as well as a ban on travel to the 15-nation bloc.
EU foreign ministers also decided to pull out their remaining election observers from Zimbabwe, following the expulsion of the Swedish chief of the delegation, Pierre Schori, on Saturday.
London-based human rights group Amnesty international said in a statement that the lack of impartial international observers ”will facilitate further suppression of the rights to freedom of expression”.
During the past two weeks ”grave violations of the right to public assembly and association … were facilitated by the lack of international observers,” Amnesty added.
After the EU sanctions, the Zimbabwe government was ”very angry and likely to retaliate”, said John Makumbe, president of the Zimbabwe branch of Transparency International, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to curbing corruption.
For David Cowan, an Africa expert for the Economist Intelligence Unit, a British think-tank, the effect of the EU action would be limited.
”The sanctions have been targeted well in advance. They (Zimbabwe officials) have known about the potential of it for weeks, if not months,” said Cowan.
”They could have moved any money they wanted into locations where they can still access it.
”It is more a question of loss of prestige. It probably hurts Mugabe’s personal pride more than anything else.
”Mugabe does somehow still crave international respectability. He does want to be seen as the leader of Zimbabwe by the rest of the world.”
Transparency International’s Makumbe welcomed the sanctions. ”The EU did the right thing. I just wish they had done this earlier,” he said from Harare.
”It’s a little bit late to impose the sanctions, but that’s better than nothing.”
Zimbabwe faces a presidential ballot March 9-10 in which 77-year-old Mugabe is battling to extend his 22-year grip on power.
The election campaign has been marred by political violence and intimidation of the president’s opponents.
”It’s unlikely that the elections will be fair,” Makumbe said.
The measures would make Mugabe ”feel ostracised by the international community, and that’s not something he is looking forward to at all.”
”It humiliates him. He will not like that. It will impact negatively on his ego,” Makumbe said.
Mugabe travels frequently to Europe — to Spain for medical treatment, and to Paris and London to go shopping, and he is particularly fond of Harrods, the British capital’s luxury goods store, British newspapers have reported.
According to Makumbe, one of the most galling effects of the targeted EU sanctions will be that the children of senior figures in Mugabe’s inner circle could be forced to abandon their studies in countries like Britain and return home.
”The sanctions will not harm the people of Zimbabwe, but will harm the people in the government. The economy is a shambles, you cannot damage it any further,” Makumbe said.
In the meantime, the South African government has indicated it was in ”high-level” talks with the Zimbabwean government over Zimbabwe’s refusal to accredit several SA journalists for the upcoming election.
Foreign Affairs representative Ronnie Mamoepa said: ”It is sufficient to say that we remain in high-level contact with them. It is a process, you can’t put a date (on an outcome).”
Journalists from Beeld, Sunday Times and the Independent Newspapers group were on Monday informed that their applications to cover the Zimbabwean presidential elections had been turned down.
Henry Jeffreys, chairman of the SA National Editors’ Forum’s media freedom committee, said the forum had asked the government to intervene on behalf of the South African media and use its influence to reverse that decision.
In terms of new rules, foreign journalists must have permission from the government to cover the presidential election and preceding campaign.
The applications of some journalists from European countries and the United States were also rejected, Associated Press (AP) reported.
AP was among a number of US organisations informed that they could not bring in foreign reporters.
Zimbabwean Information Ministry official Eddie Mamutse was quoted as saying a very large newspaper or organisation ”whose reporting on us may not have been favourable” would likely be rejected. – Sapa, AFP
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