EU eases Zimbabwe sanctions

Brussels, Feb 18 (AFP) The European Union agreed today to lift some of its punishing sanctions against Zimbabwe as a reward for ongoing political reforms but the move brought a furious response from President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party. As Zimbabwe prepares to vote on a new constitution in March, EU foreign ministers agreed to end an assets freeze and visa ban against certain members of the regime. "We have shown that by removing some sanctions we will reward reforms," said British Foreign Secretary William Hague. Welcoming political progress, the ministers said in a statement that the EU was immediately suspending a travel ban on six government members and removing 21 people out of 112, and one entity out of 11, from an EU blacklist. But Mugabe's party dismissed today's EU decisions as "outrageous and preposterous". "ZANU-PF will never accept any conditional removal of the illegal sanction or any self-serving initiatives meant to advance the economic interests of western nations," party spokesman Rugare Gumbo said in a statement. A tiff between Britain and Belgium had held up the EU deal after Belgium demanded that the ZMDC, a major diamond and gold mining company, be struck off the Zimbabwe sanctions list. Hague told reporters after the talks that state-owned ZMDC, which NGOs and diplomats claim funds the Zanu-PF, would be maintained under sanctions for the time being. NGOs and diplomats said the Zimbabwe Diamonds Mining Corporation, which operates five diamond mines in the controversial Marange fields, was channelling money to the ZANU-PF. Belgium said the company has been cleared of rights abuse fears and that ending restrictive measures against it would help revive Zimbabwe's struggling economy while bringing its diamonds to the open market. Meanwhile the EU ministers implied some sanctions would remain in place until after elections scheduled next July. It said a "peaceful and credible" referendum vote in March would be "an important milestone" justifying the immediate suspension "of the majority" of all remaining EU restrictive measures against individuals and entities. (AFP) SAI 02190153 NNNN