Zimbabwe will appoint a committee next week to try to mend fences with the European Union, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said on Wednesday.
“Next week, we will put in place a mission designed to further normalise relations between Europe and Zimbabwe,” Tsvangirai said at a ceremony to accept a European education grant.
The $10,6-million grant will support a fund backing efforts to revive Zimbabwe’s public schools, after almost all of them shut down in 2008 at the height of the country’s decade-long economic crisis.
“The generous contribution today [Wednesday] is a gesture of goodwill that serves as a reminder of the positive outcomes to be achieved as this government moves forward in … re-engaging with the international community,” Tsvangirai said.
Zimbabwe’s relations with the West were strained after President Robert Mugabe launched a violent campaign of land reforms 10 years ago, as his supporters staged deadly political attacks.
The European Union has imposed an arms ban, a travel ban and an asset freeze on Mugabe, about 200 of his allies, and firms linked to them.
Mugabe blames the measures, as well as similar United States sanctions, for his country’s economic collapse.
After Mugabe and Tsvangirai formed a unity government last year, the EU sent a delegation to Harare to begin discussions on how to normalise ties.
But last month the EU extended its sanctions for another year, saying Mugabe needed to follow through on promised political reforms before lifting them. — Sapa-AFP