EU threatens Mugabe with new sanctions; Mbeki back to Zimbabwe (3rd Roundup)

Oct 13, 2008, 20:35 GMT

Luxembourg - The European Union on Monday threatened to impose new sanctions on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his allies unless a power-sharing deal with pro-democracy leader Morgan Tsvangirai was promptly implemented.

The EU foreign ministers' warning, issued during a meeting in Luxembourg, came just ahead of former South African president Thabo Mbeki's arrival in Zimbabwe, where he will attempt to try to salvage the unity deal he brokered a month ago.

'The council stands ready to consider additional measures in case of continued deadlock in the implementation of the September 15 agreement,' the EU ministers said in a joint statement.

Under the terms of the September accord, Mugabe's Zanu-PF is to get 15 ministries in a 31-member cabinet, Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) faction 13 and a breakaway MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara three.

Mugabe is threatening to scupper the deal by claiming key ministries responsible for the army, police and secret police for his party.

The president was accused of using such forces to intimidate opposition supporters in the run up to the March presidential election.

Mbeki, the Southern African Development Community's mediator in Zimbabwe, arrived in Harare Monday evening. By contrast with his previous visits, Mugabe was not at the airport to receive Mbeki.

Mbeki's visit comes a day after Tsvangirai warned that the power- sharing agreement would be 'stillborn' if Mugabe failed to hand the home-affairs ministry, which controls the police, to the MDC.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband had said on his arrival in Luxembourg Monday that Europe should send out a strong signal indicating that it would 'play no part in supporting a power grab by the Mugabe regime.'

'It is important (that) there is an international united response that says that the results of the elections need to be respected, and a power grab will not be respected,' Miliband said.

Current EU sanctions include a ban on pro-Mugabe officials entering the EU and the severing of ties with businesses linked to the 84-year-old president. The EU had put off further sanctions in September when the deal was announced.

The ministers also reiterated their concern at the 'deteriorating humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe' and noted that the European Commission was providing an additional 10 million euros (13.6 million dollars) in aid to the country.

Earlier, Mugabe continued to forge ahead with his attempts to form a government on his terms by swearing in his two longtime vice presidents, Joseph Msika and Joyce Mujuru for another term.

State radio said that the swearing-in of the vice-presidents would be 'followed by the swearing in of the prime minister (Tsvangirai) and his two deputies,' drawn from MDC ranks.

But the radio also quoted Zanu-PF spokesman Patrick Chinamasa as saying 'it would take three months' to change laws to provide for Tsvangirai to be sworn in, effectively prolonging Mugabe's solo rule by another three months.

A unity government is seen as the best solution to Zimbabwe's acute economic crisis.

Over 2 million people in the once-bountiful country need food aid as a result of 84-year-old Mugabe's populist policies, which have sent inflation soaring to over 200 million per cent, one of the highest levels on record.

Western governments have pledged to plough aid and investment into the country, but only if an MDC is given a key say in the running of the country.