The Sunday Mail
Lincoln Towindo
The British government will, in a fortnight, decide whether or not to follow the lead set by the majority in the European Union (EU) to lift economic sanctions on Zimbabwe. The British lower house – House of Commons – gave its government an October 13 ultimatum, a day on which the legislative chamber resumes sitting after a month break, to announce a position regarding EU sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.
The position will be tabled when foreign ministers from the 28-member bloc, including Britain, meet on November 1 in Belgium to review terms of the embargo enforced on Harare in 2002.
In February this year, the House of Commons’ European Scrutiny Committee ordered Minister of State at the Foreign Office, Mr David Lidington, to present before it the government’s position on the matter by the time House resumes sitting in two weeks.
The ultimatum on Mr Lidington came after the majority of EU ministers endorsed the easing of the sanctions to which Britain accepted with reservations.
Britain remains the only EU member state openly against the removal of the sanctions with much of the EU growing weary of the impasse between London and Harare.
Other EU members Holland and France, which collaborated with Britain to put Zimbabwe on sanctions, are still neutral on their position with indications they would be swayed to whatever London agrees.
The total scraping off of the sanctions require the bloc’s outright consensus and any further resistance by London will expose its hypocrisy on willingness to mend relations with Harare.
Britain’s resistance to fully embrace the EU ministers’ meeting held in February is understood to be stemming from its unwillingness to witness the Zimbabwean Government receive direct aid from Europe through the European Development Fund (EDF).
A report by the House of Commons’ European Scrutiny Committee acknowledged that Britain has for some time been “fighting a rearguard action” against other EU member states which are now openly against the continued imposition of the sanctions.
“Given the endorsement of the (July 31) electoral outcome by the relevant regional bodies and the fact that the UK has long been fighting a rearguard action against other, more accommodating member states, the consensus embodied in these changes is no doubt the best the minister could have achieved,” states part of the report.
“In so doing, we note that the Cotonou Agreement Article 96 “appropriate measures” will lapse in November, unless there is a consensus to maintain them.
“We should therefore be grateful if the Minister would write to us in October, when the House has returned from the conference recess, to outline the direction that the review process is taking, his expectations of the final outcome, and his views on it.”
On the issue of the EDF, the report notes that, “The UK will retain a significant say (by virtue of being a major shareholder in the EDF), but not a veto, on how much and in what way EU aid is provided to Zimbabwe during the 11th EDF period (2014-2020).
“However, we do not expect the EU to propose that any aid goes directly through Government of Zimbabwe Ministries in the next few years.”
The EDF is the EU’s main instrument for development cooperation in Africa, the Caribbean, and Pacific countries.
However, other EU member states are currently finalising their positions on the matter of sanctions ahead of the November 1 indaba, with Zimbabwe also reportedly preparing its position papers which will be presented to the bloc.
Speaking at a breakfast meeting in Harare a fortnight ago, Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa said Government was preparing for life after the expiry of the sanctions in November.
“As you all know Article 96 of the EU sanctions will expire on the first of November and there has been an indication that the sanctions will not be renewed, we are already preparing for the post era of this embargo.
Since the British were at the forefront of promoting the embargo in the first place we expect them to do likewise with regards to the subsequent removal,” he said.
