Poster supporting President Mugabe of Zimbabwe outside the EU-Africa Summit in Lisbon on December 9, 2007. Mugabe blasted the "gang of four" European leaders for being agents of British imperialism.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
Saturday, 05 February 2011 23:45
By Tafadzwa Chiremba
AS the European Union (EU) prepares to hold a key meeting on the status of its illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe, it has emerged that France has been actively calling for the removal of the sanctions, signalling deep division within the bloc.
According to a WikiLeaks cable released on Friday, three top French government officials pressured former British Foreign Office Minister Lord Malloch-Brown during a meeting in Paris in April 2009 on a change of stance on the illegal sanctions.
The French trio of deputy national security advisor Bruno Joubert, Home Affairs advisor Eric Chevallier, and former Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner’s African Affairs advisor Charlotte Montel “pressed hard” on Malloch-Brown to remove the sanctions.
Information released by the whistle-blowing website reveals that France wanted the removal of sanctions on Zimbabwe regardless of the United Kingdom’s position.
“Montel said that the EU would begin considering lifting sanctions ‘with or without the UK’, but would prefer the UK to lead the process,” the cable reads.
It is understood that Malloch-Brown described the inclusive Government in the country as half-baked while taking a cue from the former British prime minister Gordon Brown, who wanted the sanctions to be removed only after the success of the West’s regime change agenda.
Malloch-Brown also revealed that most of the senior UK government figures remained hardliners on Zimbabwe.
“Yes, it was time to begin looking at Zimbabwe as a glass half full, but that the Zimbabwe GNU had not done enough yet to merit lifting sanctions,” Malloch-Brown told the French, adding that the UK was supposed to lead EU discussions on Zimbabwe.
The regional bloc widened the sanctions against Zimbabwe in February last year and their status is due for review when the 27-member group meets this month.
The extension of sanctions has been widely discredited amid repeated calls for their removal by such groups as Sadc, the Pan African Parliament, the Non-Aligned Movement, Comesa and the African Union.
Efforts have of late been made to normalise relations between Zimbabwe and the EU with the two parties holding talks on several occasions last year.
A Zimbabwean delegation which comprised the Minister of Justice, Cde Patrick Chinamasa, Regional Integration and Co-operation Minister Mrs Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga and Energy and Power Development Minister Mr Elton Mangoma has been engaging the EU with the aim of restoring ties.-The Sunday Mail
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