EU meets Mugabe to ease tension with Zimbabwe

Wirepullers: l'Europa incontra Robert Mugabe, uno dei dinosauri africani, cioè quei leader che sono al potere da decenni e non mostrano la minima intenzione di andarsene (anzi...). L'obiettivo è quello di instaurare un confronto con colui che guida lo Zimbabwe dal 1980 (impensabile per una democrazia) e che in questi 29 anni ha trasformato il "granaio d'Africa" in uno dei paesi più poveri e instabili del mondo. Lo scontro frontale (con tanto di sanzioni) non ha dato risultati e probabilmente questa l'unica è strada percorribile al momento per non lasciare solo Morgan Tsvangirai, attuale Primo Ministro e avversario storico di Mugabe, nella ricostruzione di un paese che, se lasciato alla deriva, potrebbe diventare l'ennesima pustola in una regione già abbondantemente infetta. (1)

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe welcomed a high-level EU delegation "with open arms" on Saturday as Brussels and Harare began their first talks in seven years in a bid to ease diplomatic tensions.

"We welcome you with open arms. We hope our talks will be fruitful with a positive outcome," said a jovial Mugabe before entering his meeting with the European Union delegation.

His tone displayed a marked difference in his attitude to the West who he lashed out at on Thursday for sanctions imposed against him and his allies which he blames for his country's economic woes.

The meeting at the state house in Harare comes amid a controversy over these penalties which the European bloc is refusing to lift, despite calls by southern African leaders for it do so.

"In these bilateral discussions between the European Union and Zimbabwe, we want to see how the diplomatic tension can be addressed, especially the issue of sanctions, how they can be removed," a government official said on condition of anonymity.

The EU delegation is fresh from a visit to regional heavyweight South Africa, where both parties called for Zimbabwe's political rivals to make their fragile unity government work.

Despite South Africa's lobbying for sanctions to be lifted, the EU stood firm in its demand for greater reforms in Zimbabwe, where accusations of human rights abuses and power struggles hamper a year-old unity accord.

Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, a longtime political rival, joined a unity government in February a year after disputed polls pushed Zimbabwe into a deep political and economic crisis.

The unity government has acted to steer the country's return to stability and rebuild the hyperinflation-ravaged economy and basic services that collapsed under Mugabe's three decades of rule.

But the government has been plagued by power struggles over key posts and claims of continued persecution of Tsvangirai's supporters, with Western states so far proving reluctant to give direct aid without proof of more reforms.

Several lawmakers from Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party have been arrested, including its choice for deputy agriculture minister.

Mugabe, 85, who has ruled since independence in 1980, was typically defiant ahead of the EU visit, saying he would not brook outside interference in Harare's affairs.

"Who said the British and the Americans should rule over others? That's why we say down with you. We have not invited these bloody whites. They want to poke their nose into our own affairs. Refuse that," he said.

"We have stood stood firm and we have refused to let go. Zimbabwe, sanctions or no sanctions, Zimbabwe remains ours," he told a gathering of his ZANU-PF party's youth wing Friday.

Mugabe also said he would not back down from his controversial land reforms launched nine years ago, which saw white-owned farms resettled with blacks in a bid to redress colonial-era inequities.

The chaotic reforms were accompanied by political violence, while agricultural production plunged, leaving the nation dependent on food aid.

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country holds the EU presidency, said Thursday that penalties will remain and that mismanagement and poor human rights record and not sanctions were behind the country's problems.

The EU team will meet Tsvangirai on Sunday in Bulawayo where his party is holding a rally to celebrate the anniversary of the unity deal.

Fonte: www.alarabonline.org