Harare | Thursday
ZIMBABWE’S President Robert Mugabe has said he can resist European Union (EU) sanctions slapped on him and his close associates.
”They are saying that they are placing sanctions on leaders so that they don’t come to Europe? What is Europe?” Mugabe was quoted as saying by the state daily The Herald on Thursday.
”What will I be wanting in Europe? We can visit other countries in Asia and Africa,” Mugabe told a rally in the remote district of Nkayi, 600 kilometres west of the capital.
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.
President Mugabe has of late been forming close relations with such Asian nations as Malaysia and Thailand, while in Africa his closest ally is Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi.
The EU sanctions include an arms embargo against Zimbabwe.
Mugabe said the sanctions would not deter him from his controversial scheme of taking land from whites giving it to landless blacks.
”We must be prepared to withstand these actions by Britain and its allies,” he said.
Britain, the former colonial power, has led a vigorous campaign against Mugabe in recent years following serious differences over the land reform scheme.
”I won’t go back (on the land exercise). Blair can bleat, he can cry, He can do anything, go into tantrums but I will not move. The government will not move,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwean government has lifted the accreditation ban it slapped on South African journalists intending to cover the upcoming presidential elections, the Independent Newspapers group said on Thursday.
”We are delighted at this,” said Alan Dunn, the editor of the Independent News Network (INN). INN is part of the Independent Newspapers group which owns 14 titles in South Africa.
Dunn said he was informed by Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad about the decision to lift the ban.
Journalists from the Independent Newspapers group, the Sunday Times and Beeld were told earlier this week that their applications to cover the elections were turned down.
The new press rules in Zimbabwe dictate that foreign journalists must obtain permission from that government before covering the presidential election and the preceding campaign. – Sapa, AFP