adminNow less than three months after the undertakings to stay off Zimbabwean political processes, the EU has made yet another pledge.
This time the grouping says it will suspend the illegal sanctions it imposed on Zimbabwe after the referendum on the draft constitution. The referendum is expected to be held next month.
The bloc’s ambassador Mr Aldo Dell’ Ariccia says the EU is keen to see the full implementation of the Global Political Agreement signed by Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations to form the inclusive government.
Mr Ariccia said the EU’s position was that a peaceful and credible constitutional referendum would justify a suspension of the majority of all restrictive measures. The EU prefers to call them restrictive measures while its ally the US says they are targeted when in fact they are real and crippling economic sanctions that have brought down the economy.
Despite the current promise from the EU, we still feel there is no need for the embargo to last any day longer. In fact the sanctions were in the first place not supposed to have been imposed on Zimbabwe. In short they are illegal because the United Nations has not approved them.
Last year when Mr Ariccia and his US counterpart Mr Bruce Wharton pledged not to interfere in the internal processes in Zimbabwe, we urged them to lift the sanctions if their pledge was sincere.
Our argument was and it still stands today that the sanctions are a form of meddling in the affairs of Zimbabwe.
Mr Wharton, while addressing journalists at the Bulawayo Press Club, even admitted that Zimbabwean elections were professionally run and Washington stood ready to accept the outcome of the forthcoming harmonised presidential, parliamentary and council elections. It is given that the referendum on the draft constitution will be held without incidence because the three parties in the inclusive government have finally agreed on the final document that will be put to the people to approve or reject.
Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations reached the agreement on their own without influence from outsiders.
It clearly shows that the three parties are taking charge of the whole process right up to the referendum and thereby representing the wishes of their supporters, the people, because these are three parties that were voted into Parliament.
In view of this, Mr Ariccia’s promise falls far short of expectations because his grouping is pledging to suspend the sanctions and not lift them altogether.
This means the EU and US have not been sincere in their undertaking not to meddle in Zimbabwean affairs. It shows that even if the referendum is held in a peaceful and credible manner, the sanctions will still be used as leverage by these Western powers since the country will be moving to hold elections soon after the referendum.
Our demand to the Western powers and their allies is just lift the sanctions, restrictive measures or targeted measures whatever you call them and let Zimbabweans decide their destiny on their own.
Zimbabweans have shown that they are quite capable of resolving their own issues and even the MDC formations, which campaigned for the sanctions when they were still a united MDC, have seen the damage they have caused to our people, the economy and social services and want them removed.
Online Reporter