EC ambassadors to tour Manicaland

The Herald

FIFTEEN ambassadors of the European Union accredited to Zimbabwe and the Head of Delegation of the European Commission are this week visiting EU-funded projects in Manicaland Province.

The visit, which is organised by the delegation of the EC, is taking the ambassadors to Rusape, Nyanga and Mutare, where several EU-funded projects are under implementation.

In a statement this week, the head of the EC in Zimbabwe, Mr Xavier Marchal, said the visit would cover a food distribution operation organised by the World Food Programme with EU funding in Rusape and a tour of an agricultural project funded by ECHO, the humanitarian department of the EC.

The ambassadors will also visit the Sangano Dairy Project. The dairy project, funded by the EU since 2001, involves the establishment of milk processing centre and improvement of the farmers’ dairy herd and on farm production through training. The project is part of the Micro Project Programme (MPP) covering the whole country.

They will also visit the NATPHARM regional storage centre in Mutare. This is part of an EU health support programme, which mainly deals with the procurement of vital and essential medicines, vaccines, hospital equipment and spare parts to be used by public health institutions.

However, eyebrows have been raised after the EC statement revealed that the ambassadors would hold a meeting at the Mutare office of the Legal Resources Foundation (LRF), a project whose objective they say is to encourage a democratic environment in Zimbabwe and the respect of people’s rights. But most Zimbabweans know the LRF as a group of anti-Zimbabwe lawyers formerly headed by MDC secretary for legal affairs Mr David Coltart.

The EU imposed illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe after being drawn into the bilateral dispute between Harare and London.

Zanu-PF Secretary for Information and Publicity Cde Nathan Shamuyarira urged the EU ambassadors to stop practising double standards.

“They must stop the double standards where on one hand they say they are funding humanitarian projects yet on the other they are imposing illegal sanctions on Zimbabweans,” he said.

Cde Shamuyarira urged the EU envoys to direct their energies towards advising authorities in their native countries to lift the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe when they meet in Brussels, Belgium, next month.

“EU ambassadors should report to their capitals that Zimbabwe is an internally democratic country. In the last 10 months we have had elections of parliamentary candidates and senators, including for those constituencies they are visiting,” he added. In their statement, the ambassadors said the EU restricted its co-operation with Zimbabwe in February 2002.

“Financial support for projects has been suspended, except that in direct support of the population, in particular in the social sectors. Contributions to operations of a humanitarian nature have not been affected. The EU is also supporting activities to support democratisation, the respect of human rights and the rule of law.”

Political analyst and head of the Media and Information Commission Dr Tafataona Mahoso dismissed the ambassadors’ statement as Euro-speak propaganda.

“You know what happened to Afghanistan when (American president) George Bush dropped bombs that resembled food packages.

This is what is happening here. You should count the number of times they (ambassadors) say ‘humanitarian’ in their statement. The overemphasis on humanitarianism shows that this is not at all humanitarian. One cannot claim humanitarianism but should be seen to be humanitarian,” Dr Mahoso said.

He added that the visit to the LRF offices gives the whole plot away, saying the organisation was at the centre of defining human rights as “white rights” and the rule of law as “rule of white law”.

LRF was at the forefront of legal challenges launched by white, former commercial farmers in protest at the acquisition of white-held farms earmarked for resettlement.

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