EU Will Suspend Sanctions On Zimbabwe After Referendum; But Not On Mugabe

The European Union has said that it will suspened sanctions on Zimbabwe if ‘free and credible’ referendum on the constitution is held.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague put this on his twitter account:

Landmark EU decision on Zimbabwe. We will suspend sanctions if referendum in autumn is free & credible, but not sanctions on Mugabe. EU nations have responded to calls by PM Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC, to help support reform in Zimbabwe.

The EU agreed to start dealing directly with Harare, and to suspend sanctions on most of the 112 ZANU-PF members still on its list. This will only happen if they deem the referendum free and fair. That referendum is likely to happen at the end of the year.

It is pretty much as we called it. In essence it is not as landmark as it sounds because the EU really begins giving direct aid to Zimbabwe in 2014 in principle when their next budgetary cycle begins.

Here is hoping we have a good referendum then. Beyond that all this posturing would stop. The two sides should just kiss and make up and move on. Noone has the appetite for the posturing anymore. The politicians are tired. The business community is tired. The average Zimbabwean no longer sees the relevance of some of this posturing.

The only people having fun with this still, is the media really. Even they would rather talk about Emmanuel Makandiwa, TB Joshua or missing panties in Gokwe.

That word suspended is loaded though.