The Financial Gazette

Njabulo Ncube, Assistant Editor

THE European Union (EU) will tomorrow announce the relaxation of targeted sanctions slapped on President Robert Mugabe and members of his inner circle in 2002 amid revelations that the bloc will lift travel bans on Justice Minister, Patrick Chinamasa and Foreign Affairs Minister, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi.
Diplomatic sources said 51 individuals and 20 State entities would also be removed from the sanctions list as the EU reviews the targeted measures adopted against President Mugabe’s previous administration.
The identities of the 51 individuals and 20 State-owned companies would only be made public at a press conference scheduled for tomorrow. This would leave 112 individuals, including President Mugabe, and 11 entities on the sanctions list, from 162 individuals and 31 parastatals in 2002.
The reprieve on Chinamasa and Mumbengegwi is meant to allow them to participate in re-engagement talks with the EU.
The sanctions, which include asset freezes, an arms embargo and travel bans, were introduced in response to the alleged human rights and elections-related abuses by the Zimbabwean government between 2000 and 2008.
The measures have been extended since they were firstly slammed on the ZANU-PF administration in 2002.
Last year, the EU removed 35 people from the sanctions list, among them deceased persons and spouses of some ZANU-PF officials.
ZANU-PF argues that the restrictions were not targeted on the ruling elite alone but were full-blown economic sanctions that have caused untold suffering in Zimbabwe.
Western diplomats say the EU bloc may not lift the sanctions wholesale due to lack of progress in the implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA).
The Movement for Democratic Change formations accuse ZANU-PF of unilateralism and being insincere in the implementation of the GPA.
President Mugabe has refused to implement agreed positions under the power sharing truce saying he would only do so after the unconditional lifting of sanctions by the EU and the rest of the West.
Last week, President Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara crossed swords for the alleged unilateral re-appointment of police Commissioner-General, Augustine Chihuri.