Zimbabwe’s Sports Minister, Aeneas Chigwedere, accused Britain on Wednesday of pressuring Greece into barring him from attending the Athens Olympics and described the decision as ”completely out of order”.
”[The] Olympics are an international event, they are not a European Union thing, they are not an African Union thing, they are like the United Nations. In my view it is completely out of order,” Chigwedere said in an interview.
EU member Greece announced on Tuesday it will bar Chigwedere from attending the Olympics, in line with political sanctions against Zimbabwe for human and civil rights violations.
”We can’t force our way, but it does not make any sense that our team goes but the minister is not allowed. I know they were put under a lot of pressure by Britain,” the minister added.
Chigwedere is not allowed to enter EU countries since his name is on a list of 95 top government officials blacklisted by the 25-country bloc.
President Robert Mugabe is also barred from the EU but he has over the past two years been allowed to attend UN conferences in Europe.
Chigwedere was supposed to accompany the Zimbabwe team participating in athletics, tennis and swimming competitions at the Games.
In February, EU interior and justice ministers adopted an extended list of 95 Zimbabwean officials who are banned from entering EU countries and approved a freeze on their assets. — Sapa-AFP