HARARE (Reuters) – President Robert Mugabe welcomed the first top-level European Union delegation to visit Zimbabwe in seven years with “open arms” yesterday and said talks on implementing a power-sharing deal went well.
Mugabe’s change in tone suggested he may be more willing to cooperate with Western powers crucial to Zimbabwe’s efforts to secure billions of dollars in aid and foreign investment.
“We welcome you with open arms,” he said.
The visit by EU Aid and Development Commissioner Karel De Gucht and the Swedish EU presidency is the first since the EU began targeted sanctions in 2002 against members of Mugabe’s government for human rights violations.
“We established a good rapport, it was a friendly meeting. Obviously they thought the Global Political Agreement was not working well,” Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, told reporters after the talks.
The EU delegation also met Mugabe’s long-time foe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in Bulawayo, the second capital later yesterday.
Tsvangirai, widely respected in Western circles for standing up to Mugabe, said his discussion with the EU focused on reforms and economic co-operation.
“We discussed … issues around the constitutional reforms and other reforms, that’s what the EU is legitimately concerned about,” Tsvangirai said after meeting.
“We also raised the issue of economic co-operation.”
Zimbabwe says it needs $10 billion in foreign reconstruction aid. Western nations are reluctant to release cash without further political and economic reform promised as part of the power-sharing deal, called the Global Political Agreement (GPA).
Tsvangirai added that the political agreement also came up for discussion. “We said that there are issues with the political agreement, regarding implementation,” he said.
“However, there has been progress, but we are disappointed that the pace of implementation has been slow.”
