Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-07-09-Speech-3-389"
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"en.20080709.36.3-389"2
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"Mr President, Minister, Commissioner, President Mugabe has employed unbelievable violence and demonstrated a scandalous contempt for the most basic human rights in seizing power and taking an already battered population hostage.
The Socialists condemn this violence and do not recognise the power in place as having any legitimacy. First of all, however, it is the Zimbabwean population that European socialists are thinking of. In particular, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that five million Zimbabweans are at risk of suffering severe famine by the beginning of 2009.
Furthermore, we know that a third of the population of Zimbabwe are already surviving only thanks to international aid. Consequently, it is absolutely essential for the European Commission, the Council, every Member State and the whole of the international community to exert maximum pressure on the Zimbabwean authorities to allow completely free access by international humanitarian aid to the most vulnerable populations. We cannot emphasise this enough, for Mugabe’s current position is quite simply criminal.
In the same spirit, if we are asking the European Union and the international community to adopt strong sanctions in respect of Zimbabwe, a prospect which you raised, Minister, we would also emphasise that they must not harm the population but must target members of the regime responsible for the attacks on human rights and the current reign of terror in that country.
Of course, we must also urge the European Union and regional structures such as the SADC to take the lead with Zimbabwe’s elected Parliament and civil society in resolving the current crisis rapidly and democratically.
Mr President, I should like to make one last quick point about the 200 000 displaced Zimbabweans. We would ask their South African neighbours, and President Mbeki in particular, to act responsibly by not sending back Zimbabwean refugees who have taken refuge in South Africa."@en1
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