EU lawmaker demands ban on Zimbabwean officials(from upcoming meeting in Brussels)

[maddezmom]

EU lawmaker demands ban on Zimbabwean officials

More BRUSSELS, March 19 (Reuters) - Officials of Zimbabwe's ruling party should be banned from planned meetings in Brussels this week, a senior European Union lawmaker said after a series of arrests and attacks on opposition officials in Harare.

Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's chief spokesman Nelson Chamisa was assaulted and badly injured by a gang at Harare airport on Sunday, preventing him from flying to Brussels for meetings of EU and ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) lawmakers and officials.

"It is clear that the participation of ZANU-PF delegates in the ACP-EU meeting would send a terrible signal," Glenys Kinnock, co-chair of the EU-ACP parliamentary assembly said.

"We owe it to Nelson to take a strong and unequivocal position at this critical time for the people of Zimbabwe," she said in a statement.

more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L19330104.htm

[BayCityProgressive]

1. This will do nothing

to help the situation. It will only isolate the country and strengthen the hand of their leader.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Why would letting Mugabe's party represent Zimbabwe be better?

Surely that strengthens Mugabe's hand more?

[pampango]

3. One does get the feeling of being unable to help.

Any type of military intervention would have to be multilateral and approval of such is very unlikely. Economic sanctions are obviously counterproductive, since the population has become impoverished in the past few years. Targeted sanctions against Mugabe's family, political party and cronies might be the only thing that has any hope of having a positive effect.

I agree that travel bans on his political party members and supporters are the best way to put pressure on his regime.