§ Mr. AncramTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1) when the European Union observing team will publish its final report on the election process in Zimbabwe [36370]
(2) what plans there are for the European Union observing team to publish interim reports on the election process in Zimbabwe; [36375]
(3) what access the European Union observers are guaranteed to ballot stations during the voting process in Zimbabwe's presidential elections under the terms outlined in the letter of invitation sent by the Government of Zimbabwe to the European Union; [36374]
(4) how many election observers the European Union will send to Zimbabwe to monitor the election process; what the nationality is of each of these observers; in which of the eight provinces of Zimbabwe the observers will be deployed; and how many observers will be deployed in each province; [36373]
(5) which members of the European Union may send observers to monitor the Presidential election in Zimbabwe under the terms outlined in the letter of invitation sent by the Government of Zimbabwe to the European Union; [36372]
(6) how many election observers the European Union may send to Zimbabwe under the terms outlined in the letter of invitation sent by the Government of Zimbabwe to the European Union. [36371]
§ Mr. StrawThe EU tried for eight months to engage Zimbabwe in constructive consultation, under the Cotonou agreement. President Mugabe refused to engage. The EU accordingly moved to Article 96 consultations in October 2001. This was a final opportunity for the Government of Zimbabwe to engage positively. Again, they did not.
As a consequence, at the General Affairs council on 28 January the EU decided it would close Article 96 Consultations and implement targeted sanctions if the Government of Zimbabwe prevented the deployment of an EU observer mission, or impeded its effective operation; if they prevented the international media from having free access to cover the election; if there was a serious deterioration in the human rights situation, or attacks on the opposition; or if the election was assessed as not being free and fair.
On 4 February the Zimbabwean Government sent a letter to the European Union, inviting it to send observers to cover the election. The letter specifically excluded the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany and Finland from sending observers. It did not specify how many could be sent, (the EU had intended to send a total of 150). The letter did not specify either what access they would have to voting stations.
On 16 February, the Government of Zimbabwe expelled the Swedish leader of the EU observer team, Pierre Schori.
1159WMr. Schori reported to the General Affairs Council (GAC) on 18 February that an EU election observation mission was untenable because the Zimbabwe Government was obstructing the deployment of observers and because of the unremitting violence and restrictions on the media. The GAC therefore decided to impose targeted sanctions (asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo) against 20 senior members of the Zimbabwe Government. The vote was unanimous. A copy of these conclusions has been placed in the Library.
The GAC conclusions note that the EU reserves the right to take additional targeted restrictive measures, at a later date, if the situation deteriorates further.