HARARE, Zimbabwe - The European Union said yesterday that it will not remove sanctions targeting longtime President Robert Mugabe and his loyalists or resume development aid until more is done to implement a year-old power-sharing agreement and restore human rights.
Winding up the first visit by a high-level EU delegation since 2002, Karel de Gucht, European commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, said sharp differences remained between Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the former opposition leader, over their coalition agreement signed Sept. 15, 2008.
“They do not have the same reading of the same document. They have a different reading on how this should be done and at what speed,’’ he told reporters at the end of a two-day visit.
Gunilla Carlsson of Sweden, international cooperation minister, said the delegation’s talks with Mugabe were “open and frank.’’ But traditional ties between the 27-nation bloc and Zimbabwe, severed over the expulsion of an EU election-monitoring mission in 2002 and surging political violence at the time, remained on hold. “We still have a lot of reports of human rights violations that are unacceptable,’’ she said.
The EU has protested the continuing arrests and harassment of members of the Movement for Democratic Change, Tsvangirai’s party that shares power with Mugabe’s ZANU-PF. The EU has criticized efforts by Mugabe’s party to block the appointment of a new attorney general, regional governors, and the central bank head.
