EU lifts sanctions on two pro-Mugabe ministers in Zimbabwe

Feb 17, 2012, 14:01 GMT

Brussels - The European Union on Friday relaxed sanctions against Zimbabwe - even lifting restrictive measures against two ministers from President Robert Mugabe's party - as it acknowledged progress towards democratic elections.

In total, travel bans and asset freezes were waived for 51 officials and 20 companies, EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement.

No full list was immediately available, but Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi from the Zanu-PF party were understood to have also benefited from Friday's decision.

The two ministers' EU-held assets were kept frozen, however.

They are members of a multi-party delegation that is tasked with renewing contacts with the EU. Sanctions were removed 'so that the full team can come to Brussels for high-level consultations,' the Ashton statement said.

Restrictions remained in place for '112 individuals and 11 entities who are still considered to be involved in or associated with policies and activities which undermine human rights, democracy and the rule of law.'

In Harare, a spokesman for Mugabe's Zanu-PF party dismissed the announcement as a 'non event.'

Rugare Gumbo said the party would only accept 'the unconditional lifting of all illegal sanctions.' The British government, he alleged, was using the EU to 'pursue a neo-colonial agenda to remove Zanu-PF from power.'

Mugabe himself was still on the black list, EU diplomats said. EU sanctions on Zimbabwe have been in place since 2002, following a crackdown on the opposition and the eviction without compensation of white farmers from agricultural lands.

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