Lifting sanctions against President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party "would give Zimbabwe an opportunity to move forward", Jacob Zuma told reporters this week during his visit to Britain. South Africa's president is right. The continued EU sanctions are seriously weakening the hand of Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, in his efforts to implement a power-sharing deal in Zimbabwe.

This is because Zanu-PF's response to the EU sanctions has consisted of an unrelenting propaganda effort to cast Tsvangirai and the MDC as "sell outs" who campaigned for the imposition of unjustified sanctions that are "racist" and a violation of Zimbabwe's sovereignty.…  Seguir leyendo »

At a summit last week, southern African leaders called on western states to "remove all forms of sanctions against Zimbabwe". They contend that Zimbabwe's power-sharing deal cannot be effectively implemented until sanctions are lifted. The EU and US say sanctions will not be lifted until the power-sharing agreement is appropriately observed.

Disagreement over the imposition of sanctions on Zimbabwe is not new. It goes back to 2002 when, at the request of Britain and some Zimbabwean civil society elements, the EU first imposed targeted sanctions on Robert Mugabe, Zanu-PF elites and companies associated with the Zanu-PF regime. African leaders' reaction to sanctions at the time was typified by Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa's remarks:

As you have heard about Zimbabwe and the EU's decision to impose sanctions, it seems they want to divide Africa at Brussels in 2002 just as they did in Berlin in 1884.…  Seguir leyendo »