Monday, November 25, 2002

How is it that Comrade Bob and his henchmen get a cooler reception in the EU than they do in New York?

Major trade and aid talks between the European Union and 77 African, Caribbean and Pacific nations were abandoned in Brussels tonight in a stand-off over Zimbabwe’s right to attend the four-day meeting.

Hundreds of delegates from the so-called ACP states flew in at the weekend but were tonight left wandering the corridors of the European Parliament after a point-blank refusal by leading MEPs to do businesses with members of Robert Mugabe’s regime.

Zimbabwe had despatched two senior ministers to the talks – knowing that both are on an EU list barred from EU countries in protest at human rights violations. And although they were granted entry visas by the Belgian government, they were denied access to the European Parliament building where the talks were due to be held.

“Zimbabwe could have sent delegates who were not on the banned list but chose not to. We have refused to deal with these two and this is a major setback – but there is still goodwill between the EU and the ACP countries“.

Tory MEPs endorsed the blockade, and Geoffrey Van Orden, the Conservative spokesman on human rights in the European Parliament, said: “Mugabe’s henchmen have no place coming to Brussels and the European Parliament. As a body that should uphold democratic ideals and the rule of law, the European Parliament must not be playing host to people who use murder and intimidation to maintain their grip on power.

“The fact that the Zimbabwean ministers were not allowed into the talks is a victory for democracy and human rights. We do this to highlight the campaign for the people of Zimbabwe suffering under a despotic regime which has brought their country to ruin and sent millions to the brink of starvation.

Of course there will always be some willing to support murderous dictators.

But Green MEPs, including the UK’s Caroline Lucas, said the ban was “undemocratic” and “colonialist” and called for the talks to be resumed, using non-European Parliament premises.

< email | 11/25/2002 10:34:00 PM | link