Editorial Comment: EU should negotiate in utmost good faith

flare-ups.
Zimbabwe’s differences with the British over the land issue is well documented and due to the internationalisation of the conflict, the European Union was dragged into the issue culminating in the EU bloc imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe.
The sour relations between Zimbabwe and the EU have not benefited anyone with Zimbabwe losing out on development assistance while firms in the EU also had their trade with Zimbabwean companies disrupted.
This is how far-reaching the consequences of political decisions can be. Having traded uncomplimentary statements for more than a decade, it is quite heartening to note that the same political players are now set to negotiate the normalisation of relations between Zimbabwe and the EU.
Following dialogue between the EU and the local EU re-engagement committee which saw a partial lifting of sanctions, an EU technical team arrived in the country on Wednesday to look into areas of possible co-operation.
While Zimbabwe’s position has been that the illegal sanctions should be lifted unconditionally, the EU extended the embargo for another year, saying they would review their position after the constitution referendum in Zimbabwe.
However, the visit by an EU technical team gives us hope that there is progress in negotiations between the European bloc and our re-engagement team.
Our call to the EU is that it should be sincere in its engagement with Zimbabwe since it has now become apparent even to those that doubted that it got involved in a bilateral issue, a dispute over the redistribution of land in Zimbabwe between the latter and Britain.
Zimbabwe has challenged the EU sanctions at the General Court of the European Court of Justice where the United Kingdom filed an intervenor application exposing its interest in Zimbabwe where its kith and kin used to own large tracts of land.
The EU should let no British fingers meddle with the negotiations, in case the British decide to intervene again! And despite strenuous denials over the years that the sanctions regime did not impact on the common man, head of EU Delegation to Zimbabwe Ambassador Aldo Dell’Ariccia said the EU used to extend more than US$130 million humanitarian aid to Zimbabwe before relations soured.
We learn that the technical team will be meeting Government officials to discuss priority areas in terms of funding and that these would then be forwarded to the EU Parliament.
Zimbabwe has never deviated from its principles and as a sovereign country we believe it will maintain that position going forward so that development partners such as the EU come to us with that in mind.
Land reform remains irreversible and the country’s right to its resources non-negotiable.
We believe that should set the tone for our future relations and also guide the on-going talks between the EU and Zimbabwe.