Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-07-07-Speech-4-189"
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"en.20050707.28.4-189"2
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".
Mr President, may I first of all express my utter condemnation and disgust concerning the terrorist attacks on London today in which, according to the latest reports, over 40 people have been murdered and many hundreds injured. I extend my deepest sympathy to the victims and their families.
The people of Zimbabwe live under a different sort of terrorism. It is unremitting and comes from the hands of the very authorities that should protect them – the government, the police, the army. The situation there is desperate and deteriorating. Since fixing the election in March, Mugabe has now deliberately destroyed the homes and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of the poorest Zimbabweans, while millions more continue to rely on international food aid for their survival. What does it take before the world responds to this catastrophe?
Africa is at the top of the agendas of today’s meeting of G8 leaders at Gleneagles and of the UK Presidency of the EU. The focus on Africa is bolstered by the massive wave of popular support for Bob Geldof’s Live 8. All recognise the need for improved aid, debt relief and fair trade. They also all acknowledge that, without good governance, much of the value of such assistance will be destroyed.
The attitude of African governments to Zimbabwe is a true test of their commitment to such good governance, yet South Africa, the key to bringing about change in Zimbabwe, continues its quiet complicity with Mugabe’s oppression. I have asked the British Foreign Secretary and President-in-Office of the Council, Jack Straw, to urge President Mbeki, who is at Gleneagles today, to condemn Mugabe and to use every means at his disposal to bring about change for the better in Zimbabwe.
Opposition leaders from southern African countries know what needs to be done. I have spoken to some of them here today in this Parliament, but their governments must be empowered to act and the EU itself must get serious.
The Council and Commission must have a fresh determination to get a result. It should no longer tolerate excuses for evasion of its sanctions and those sanctions must be toughened and extended. And they must ask themselves: what specific additional action should we be taking? This Parliament will give them some advice in its resolution today, and I hope they will take notice."@en1
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