The European Union (EU) is not yet ready to establish normal ties with Zimbabwe or resume aid despite a ”positive evolution” in politics there, according to a letter made public on Thursday.
”The EU shares your opinion that there are indications of a positive evolution of the political situation in Zimbabwe,” the bloc said in a letter to John Kaputin, secretary general of African, Caribbean and Pacific nations.
”We are following the situation with great attention, in the hope that it will as soon as possible lead to a new phase of stability, respect for human rights and rule of law and economic development,” said the letter.
But the EU underlined: ”However, the pace at which the new government can deliver on its own programme to the people of Zimbabwe still remains a major concern for all, both in the country and within the international community.”
The letter said that a ”dialogue” proposed in March by President Robert Mugabe ”should allow us to define a roadmap of reciprocal undertakings”, which would ”hopefully bring us to a progressive resumption of our full cooperation”.
Such a move could lead to a resumption of development aid, which has been frozen for several years. At the moment the European Commission can only send humanitarian aid — €90-million were given in 2007 — to the people.
The EU and the United States maintain a travel ban and asset freeze on Mugabe and his inner circle in protest at controversial elections and alleged human rights abuses by his government.
An EU delegation which visited Zimbabwe on Thursday commended ”significant progress” made by the new unity government, but called on the authorities to crack down on farm invasions.
Xavier Marchal, the head of the EU delegation to Zimbabwe said both the European Commission and EU felt that ”the government should announce a moratorium on farm invasions …
”If there are no property rights, then the investment climate is not right. Investors would not want to come and invest in this country,” Marchal told reporters after meeting with deputy minister Arthur Mutambara.
A number of Western countries had vowed to maintain sanctions against Zimbabwe until Mugabe proves he is ready to reform.
Zimbabwe’s once-dynamic economy has been crushed by world-record hyperinflation and the collapse of farming, mining and manufacturing. — Sapa-AFP