UK resists Zuma’s pressure on Zim sanctions

By Alex Bell
04 March 2010

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has insisted that Zimbabwe’s unity government needs to make more progress before targeted sanctions against the Mugabe regime are lifted, resisting pressure from South African President Jacob Zuma.

The two leaders met on Thursday in London, where Zuma is in the middle of a three day state visit. Zimbabwe was expected to top Thursday’s agenda, after Zuma made it clear he would lobby, on behalf of Zimbabwe, for the targeted measures to be lifted. But the pressure was resisted by the British Prime Minister who said he wanted to see progress on the ground first, as well as the results of commissions on human rights, press freedom and governance reforms, before they are reconsidered.
“We applaud the efforts that President Zuma is making to bring stability and change to Zimbabwe,” he said at a joint press conference after the talks. “We however must be absolutely sure that progress is being made.”

Referring to Zimbabwe’s fragile unity government, Brown added: “We must be moving from what is a unity but transitional government to free and fair elections.”
Zuma meanwhile, during the press conference, remained firm on his stance that the sanctions be lifted, saying the issue could be exploited politically.

“If the Zimbabwe issue is not moving forward, certainly some people could use sanctions as an excuse,” he said.

The European Union (EU) last month extended the targeted sanctions on Mugabe and his inner circle by another year citing lack of progress in implementing the Global Political Agreement (GPA). The United States has since also extended its measures, despite pressure from African leaders to drop the measures altogether. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) said the lifting of sanctions would help the coalition government move forward, while Botswana made a surprise u-turn in its position on Zimbabwe by also saying the measures should be dropped.

Zuma however has come under pressure by human rights groups and others concerned with Zimbabwe’s ongoing record of human rights abuse, not to lobby for the targeted measures to be lifted. Analysts have argued that removing the measures would reward the same people who are to blame for Zimbabwe’s collapse. The UK’s Trades Union Congress (TUC) echoed this sentiment in a letter delivered to the South African High Commission in London on Wednesday. In the letter TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: “Despite the formation of the Government of National Unity, human rights violations have not stopped. Relaxing sanctions would be seen as a relaxation of support for human rights in Zimbabwe.”
Athol Trollip, the parliamentary leader for South Africa’s main political opposition the Democratic Alliance (DA), said this week that Zuma needed to take a decisive stand on Zimbabwe. Trollip on Thursday accused Zuma of being “out of touch with reality,” in reaction to Zima’s call for Zimbabwe’s targeted sanctions to be lifted. He added that “it is clear from the lack of progress in Zimbabwe the sanctions should remain.”
“In fact, we believe that the sanctions should be tightened,” Trollip said.

Trollip said the GPA signed by the MDC and ZANU PF, which was meant to address the numerous crises facing Zimbabwe, had not resulted in any meaningful change. Trollip said there “remains no sufficient political reason for the sanctions imposed on Mugabe to be lifted.”

Exiled Zimbabweans meanwhile will make their opinions on Zuma very clear during a demonstration outside the South African High Commission in London on Friday. They will hand over a petition calling on Zuma to arrange early elections in Zimbabwe because of the failure of the unity government to agree on critical reforms. The demonstration is organised by the protest group, the Zimbabwe Vigil, which has been protesting outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in London for the past 8 years in support of demands for free and fair elections.

Vigil coordinator Dumi Tutani said in a statement: “Mugabe has made it clear that he will not implement the agreement he signed with the Movement for Democratic Change 18 months ago so it is time to end the people’s suffering and vote Mugabe and his gang out of power. An election should be arranged immediately with SADC and UN help to ensure it is free and peaceful.”