The ZIMBABWE Situation | Our
thoughts and prayers are with Zimbabwe - may peace, truth and justice prevail. |
The government insists that the rule of law has been restored on Zimbabwe commercial farms but pictures such as these tell a different story. Mr Ben Freeth the Commercial Farmers Union executive officer for Mashonaland West (South) was set upon by gang of ZANU-PF militants when he went to assist a farming colleague, Mr Hennie Bezenidenhout and his wife, Sissy, who both had earlier been brutally assaulted and were under siege at their home stead. The disjointed scars on the back of Mr Sean Martin, a Mutorashanga farmer, were caused by barbed wire wrapped around sticks to make crude torture weapons. Both men were savagely assualted for apparently no reason other than that they are white commercial farmers.
The message from Monday's meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels was that their patience is finally running out with Zimbabwe's President, Robert Mugabe.
Up till now they have brandished the threat of targeted sanctions to freeze the bank accounts of Mr Mugabe and his colleagues and ban them from coming to Europe, but held back from implementing them.
But Monday's gathering decided to take action. President Mugabe has been given a week, no more, to let in international election observers and give foreign journalists proper access to free and fair elections, or he will face the consequences.
Targeted sanctions against him and the rest of his government will begin to bite.
'Vague promises'
Typically, as the ministers in Brussels mulled over the options, word came from Harare of new assurances: that Mr Mugabe would accept foreign journalists and international election observers, though not, apparently from Britain or the Netherlands.
Opposition activists say they are becoming more hopeful that
all this intimidation might in fact backfire, they now think there is a real
chance that it might encourage many ordinary people to vote against the
president |
It was left to Jack Straw, Britain's foreign secretary, to announce what the EU intended.
"My message is that the European Union means business, " he said. "We want to see Zimbabwe operate free and fair elections, or the leadership - not the people - will pay the penalty."
He added that expectations were not high, so that is why it had been made clear that sanctions would follow.
Opposition hopes
There is a particular reason to give Mr Mugabe this one more chance, to calibrate the EU response so carefully: what is happening on the ground in Zimbabwe.
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No longer is the violence and intimidation just about the appropriation of formerly white farmland. Opposition headquarters have been firebombed, some candidates attacked, some even killed, and in some areas systematic campaigns have been reported to confiscate voting cards from some people.
But western diplomats have noted that the opposition now seems more optimistic.
Activists say they are becoming more hopeful that all this intimidation might in fact backfire. They now think there is a real chance that it might encourage many ordinary people to vote against the president.
The opposition has not forgotten that it did better than expected in the earlier parliamentary elections. Opposition leaders think they can still win these elections - but only if the outside world is there to keep an eye on things.
Rigging fears
But in Brussels those lobbying for Zimbabwe's opposition are wary.
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And that means not just getting proper election monitors in - they must have a clear mandate, with access to polling stations, to opposition as well as government campaigners and a real ability to monitor the situation.
Otherwise the international presence will simply lend credence to a process that does not deserve it.
But what if Mr Mugabe refuses to comply?
In one way what the EU decision boils down to is that the threat of sanctions often proves more effective than sanctions themselves.
Feeble response?
What British and other European diplomats fear is that once sanctions are imposed and Mr Mugabe decides the international door has been shut in his face, he will have no incentive to co-operate.
We don't think he'll let international observers in and let
the elections be free and fair; time is running out and quiet diplomacy has been
tried, and basically it has not worked |
ICG Africa programme co-director Fabienne Hara
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One organisation based in Brussels thinks all this new pressure now may be coming too late.
The International Crisis Group (ICG) in one of its latest reports dismissed the international response to Zimbabwe so far as all bark and no bite.
Its conclusion is that sanctions should be imposed without delay, and in fact should have been imposed months ago if they were to have any real impact on March's elections.
"We don't think he'll let international observers in and let the elections be free and fair," says the ICG's Africa programme co-director Fabienne Hara. "Time is running out, and quiet diplomacy has been tried, and basically it has not worked."
US and Commonwealth roles
There are still other international pressure points to bring to bear.
The US Congress has already approved a bill that would allow the US president to impose targeted sanctions, echoing those being threatened by Europe.
But perhaps most important are the symbolic steps the Commonwealth could take. The eight foreign ministers of their Ministerial Action Group meet in London on Wednesday.
Britain is also part of that grouping and has already said it will recommend calling for Zimbabwe's suspension from the Commonwealth for what UK Prime Minister Tony Blair last week in the British parliament called President Mugabe's "disgraceful" actions.
Whether the African foreign ministers at the meeting will agree is still uncertain. Until now, many of them have argued quiet diplomacy would be more effective.
But concern about the violence that might overshadow these elections is considerable. Many will be watching Wednesday's meeting closely.
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Progress Report No. 4 Period 17/1 - 28/1/02
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