adminHarare Bureau
BRITAIN’s exit from the European Union paves way for direct engagement between London and Zimbabwe as previous dialogue was underpinned by the bloc, Harare’s chief diplomat in Belgium Ambassador Tadeous Chifamba has said.
Analysts are, however, cautious about the EU changing position anytime soon, as Britian will only fully disengage in a couple of years. EU economic power Germany — which blocked Zimbabwe’s access to bank notes in 2007/8 — is seen by analysts as the remaining stumbling block to full re-engagement.
Anglo-Zimbabwe relations soured in 2000 when Harare embarked on historic reforms to correct land tenure imbalances created by British colonial occupation. Britain internationalised the dispute, convincing the EU and United States to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe using spurious accusations of human rights abuses and disregard for the rule of law.
Last Thursday, British citizens voted to leave the Belgium-headquartered EU, a tumultous outcome that forced prime minister David Cameron to announce his resignation. In an interview with our Harare Bureau, Ambassador Chifamba said:
“The implications of the exit are that the framework governing our relations with the British are shifting from being governed by the Cotonou Agreement to a bilateral framework. We need to, therefore, brace for two-pronged engagement between Britain and Zimbabwe as opposed to the previous dispensation where our ties with Britain were guided under the EU.
Without speculating much, I can say interesting times lie ahead because Zimbabwe and Britain will now be having face-to-face interaction on all issues without having to go through the EU.”
Ambassador Chifamba also said: “Britain will continue to be active in the EU for the next two years during which it will negotiate its withdrawal. Under Article 15 of the Lisbon Agreement, it takes about two years for Britain to negotiate its withdrawal. The process of exiting takes some time, so ordinarily there will not be any immediate changes. However, we will wait and see what happens given that there are some who are calling for an immediate exit.”
On EU-Zimbabwe economic co-operation he said, “Currently, our trade relations with the EU are governed under the Eastern and Southern Africa Agreement and not the Economic Partnership Agreement as has been previously reported. Within ESA, we have Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Madagascar and The Seychelles. The agreement gives duty-free access, among other benefits.
Brexit does not mean that this agreement falls away nor that such an agreement is collapsing. So, there is no threat to all current agreements, including the European Development Fund, which will see us receiving money from the EU for the coming years. For all the current arrangements, there is no immediate collapse. Therefore, development assistance under the European Development Fund is not affected.”
Bindura University of Science Education international relations lecturer Mr Ronald Chipaike said the British government was unlikely to change its stance on Zimbabwe.
derick.khumalo