Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-07-09-Speech-3-383"
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"en.20080709.36.3-383"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, in the presidential election recently held in Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe was re-elected to his country’s presidency for another five years. The second round of voting took place following the withdrawal of the only other candidate, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, which enabled Mr Mugabe to win 85% of the votes cast. The election was described as a mockery of democracy by many heads of state, including Africans, and by the United Nations Secretary-General, who regarded it as unlawful.
Immediately after being sworn in, Mr Mugabe travelled to Sharm el-Sheikh for the African Union Summit on 30 June and 1 July this year. In the course of the Summit, Nigeria launched an animated discussion of the elections. A resolution was adopted, expressing the intense concern generated by the situation in Zimbabwe, and emphasising the critical reports drawn up by electoral observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union and the Pan-African Parliament, and the violence and loss of life.
The resolution also urges Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai to start a dialogue in the interests of the people of Zimbabwe, to put in place a government of national unity, and to support the mediation mission undertaken by the SADC.
In the face of these developments, the international community is mobilising. The United States has presented a resolution to the UN Security Council calling for the application of sanctions against Zimbabwe – an arms embargo, freezing of assets and a travel ban – and including an annex listing 14 individuals to be sanctioned, including Mr Mugabe and other politicians, the majority of whom are already included in the European list of sanctions adopted in 2002.
Canada has also intensified the measures it had taken, and the European Council of 20 June declared itself ready to take further action, which will, incidentally, be examined with Commissioner Michel on 22 July. The Presidency of the European Union strongly condemned the second round of voting as a denial of democracy immediately after it had taken place, that is to say on 29 June, and the Presidency stressed, in a fresh statement made on 4 July on behalf of the European Union, that it would not accept the
ensuing from the distorted ballot of 27 June, and that the only possible solution was a transition formula based on the results of the first round of voting.
It is also important that Africa should have expressed its concern in the face of a crisis on a regional scale, and the efforts made by the African Union in particular and by the SADC must be supported. It must be ensured that the principles laid down in the African Union Charter on Human and People’s Rights in particular are complied with. It would be good for the African Union and the UN to be involved in this approach, with a view to supplementing the regional perspective of the SADC with an African and international perspective.
In its resolution, the African Union also urged the states and parties concerned to refrain from taking action likely to prejudice the climate of dialogue. This is a signal that was sent to the European Union in particular. Nevertheless, the EU will not refrain from preparing to extend the list of persons responsible for violence who are the subject of targeted sanctions by refusal of a visa or freezing of assets. The EU must also ensure that it obtains a restriction on the planned exemptions from visa bans and the establishment of new sanctions, economic sanctions in particular, and, of course, this whole range of retaliatory measures will be dependent on the progress made in the negotiations.
The negotiations between the two parties should begin as soon as possible. I think that the Commissioner will confirm this, even if their outcome is uncertain. In our view, they must in any case be based on the results of the first ballot on 29 March, which constitutes the truest expression of the will of the people of Zimbabwe, while the second ballot was a denial of democracy. Any form of coalition can constitute an interim measure with a view to fresh elections that are free, democratic and transparent, as stated by the candidate opposing Mr Mugabe.
Finally, I should like to mention that at their latest meeting, which has just ended, the members of the G8 envisaged supplementary financial measures targeting those responsible for violence at the time of the last elections. So there we are, and we must maintain this pressure without fail, in order to put an end to this unacceptable breach of the law."@en1
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