Please find attached a copy of the letter that Mr Van Orden today sent to UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw MP, President of the Council of the EU George A. Papandreou, Secretary General of the Council of the EU Javier Solana, EU Commissioner for External Affairs Chris Patten and UK Ambassador to the EU Sir Nigel Sheinwald KCMG.
Kind regards,
Tim Williams
Assistant to Geoffrey Van Orden MEP
European Parliament
ASP 14E150
Rue Wiertz 60
B1047 Bruxelles
Tel.: +32 (0)2 284.6043
Fax.: +32 (0)2 284.9332
21 January 2003
I understand that COREPER will tomorrow discuss the Council Common Position concerning restrictive measures against Zimbabwe, with a view to renewing EU sanctions at the General Affairs and External Relations Council on Monday 27 January.
The UN expects 7.2 million Zimbabweans to be in need of food aid by March and political oppression continues unabated. Given this appalling situation and Mugabe's continued defiance of the international community, it is clear that sanctions need to be rigorously imposed, vigorously pursued and kept constantly under review.
If there is to be any prospect of bringing about change for the better in Zimbabwe, the international community needs to demonstrate unambiguous resolve and ensure that its measures against the Mugabe regime are fully effective. In recent months we have seen the EU's sanctions only too often undermined through the complicity of a Member State. For example, in August 2002, Mugabe's banned police chief Augustine Chihuri was granted a visa to attend an Interpol conference in Lyon; in September the banned minister Samuel Mumbengegwi spent a week in Brussels; in October EU ambassadors agreed to the relocation of the EU-SADC summit from Copenhagen to Maputo to facilitate the attendance of the banned Zimbabwean Foreign Minister, Stan Mudenge; and in November it was left to the European Parliament to refuse access to its premises to two more banned Zimbabwean ministers, granted visas by the Belgian Government.
If there had been a determination to make sanctions work, ways would have been found to ensure that none of these breaches could have taken place.
Now Mugabe will derive additional comfort from the fact that a major international sporting event, the 2003 Cricket World Cup, will take place in Zimbabwe.
It is clear what the EU and its Member States need to do. Sanctions must be renewed and extended. The following measures are proposed:
1. The travel ban to include all members of Mugabe's regime, and their families, as well as those business leaders that are keeping the regime in place. There is no shortage of ideas as to who should be banned. The New Zealand Government, for example, started with a list of 20 names but now includes 142.
2. Ban on participation by the EU or its Member States in meetings attended by Zimbabwean representatives who are on the EU's banned list.
3. An immediate ban on international sporting events in Zimbabwe to preclude Mugabe's hijacking of such occasions for propaganda purposes.
4. Economic links to be curtailed. In particular flights to and from Zimbabwe by European carriers should be banned and Air Zimbabwe should have no landing rights in EU countries.
5. Publication of details of assets held abroad by banned Zimbabweans.
Alongside targeted sanctions there should be implementation of the recommendations made in the United Nations Report of the Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (October 2002). The report shows that Zanu PF is deeply involved in the plunder of the Congo and recommends that a travel ban and financial restrictions should be placed on John Bredenkamp, Emmerson Mnangagwa and Vitalis Zvinavashe amongst others. While the latter two names are on the EU list, Mr Bredenkamp is still free to operate from within the EU and to come and go at will.
Furthermore, a UN Security Council resolution condemning Mugabe's actions and calling for immediate, free and fair elections should be introduced. This could also be used as the mechanism for introducing greater international coordination against the Mugabe regime. An international Working Group should be established to bring this about. As a first step there should be greater international congruence in the lists of banned Zimbabweans so that they are all equally extensive and comprehensive.
I understand that there are one or two EU Member States which, for selfish reasons in pursuit of their own ambitions in Africa, wish to let Mugabe off the hook and abandon tough international measures against his regime. It is understood that President Chirac, for example, has invited Mugabe to a meeting on 19/21 February. Given the appalling state of affairs in Zimbabwe such actions are unacceptable and would be totally misunderstood by the people of Zimbabwe who are suffering so terribly under Mugabe's tyrannical regime. I receive harrowing evidence on a daily basis of the abuses suffered by so many.
I trust that you will ensure that the European Union and its Member States will press forward with rigorous action against the Mugabe regime until change for the better takes place in Zimbabwe, for the sake of all its people and for the future of the African continent.
Yours sincerely,
The Rt. Hon. Jack Straw MP
Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Whitehall
London SW1 2AH
Copy to: Sir Nigel Sheinwald KCMG, Mr George A. Papandreou, Mr Javier Solana, The Rt. Hon. Chris Patten
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