AG through with sanctions lawsuit

lawsuit against the European Union that imposed illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe.
The sanctions were imposed unilaterally by the 27 member EU bloc and the United Nations Security Council has refused to ratify them.
Government contends that the imposition of sanctions and their continued existence was a travesty of international law since UN did not approve them.

In an interview yesterday, Mr Tomana confirmed the development saying the court papers were likely to be filed in European courts before the end of this month.
“We are finalising drafting of the court papers and we hope to complete that exercise in two weeks time. We hope to file the papers during the course of this month,” he said.
Mr Tomana said the EU, as a bloc would stand as a respondent in long legal battle, which is likely to draw world attention.

The lawsuit is the first legal step by the Zimbabwean Government to compel the EU to lift the embargoes.
The lawsuit comes hot on the heels of an “empty” visit by the EU managing director for Africa Mr Nick Westcott.
Mr Westcott met President Mugabe and other senior Government officials over the sanctions issue but failed to find a common ground.

His visit was as a result of a 14-day ultimatum by the AG seeking an explanation from the EU on the maintenance of the embargoes.
In the letter, Mr Tomana exposed the EU’s glaring blunders on arriving at the imposition of sanctions.
The AG noted that the EU did not communicate its decision to people and companies placed on the sanctions list as required by Article 6 (2) of the Council Decision.

Some of the companies on EU sanctions list include the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation, Jongwe Printers and Agribank among others.
Harare resorted to take legal action against the EU after efforts to engage the EU diplomatically failed.

In 2009 Zimbabwe set a re-engagement team led by Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi to explore ways of normalising relations between Harare and the EU.
Little headway has been made to date with the EU not showing seriousness over the matter.

As revealed by the WikiLeaks, it had also became apparent that some parties in the inclusive Government particularly the MDC-T were also in supportive of the sanctions regime.
According to WikiLeaks cables, MDC-T officials intimated that sanctions were working to their advantage and should remain in place.