EUROPEAN Union (EU) vice-president Federica Mogherini has confirmed the West will send a delegation whose mission is to observe Zimbabwe’s upcoming election.
BY RICHARD CHIDZA
Speaking after a meeting with Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo in Brussels, Mogherini said President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s push for comprehensive political and economic reforms should also result in a conducive legal framework for the people’s freedoms.
Moyo has been on a whirlwind tour of the United States and EU capitals, drumming up support for Mnangagwa’s new administration that swept to power last November on the back of a military intervention that forced then President Robert Mugabe to resign.
“The High Representative/vice-president Federica Mogherini also noted the will of the new authorities to bring forward comprehensive political and economic reforms and confirmed the EU readiness to further support the country in this regard,” a statement from the EU said yesterday.
“This meeting followed up on the visit of Commissioner for International Co-operation and Development, Neven Mimica, in Zimbabwe and represented another important step in developing relations between the EU and Zimbabwe.”
Mimica was in Harare early this month and announced the EU was ready to partner authorities in Zimbabwe for the development of the country.
Mogherini welcomed the commitment of the government of Zimbabwe to peaceful, inclusive, transparent and credible elections.
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“Mogherini announced that the EU would deploy an EU electoral observation mission for the upcoming harmonised elections — a significant additional support to Zimbabwe’s democratisation process,” the statement added.
Unlike Mugabe, who shut out the rest of the world from electoral processes in Zimbabwe, Mnangagwa has invited 46 countries and international organisations to observe general elections expected in July this year.
“Mogherini underlined the importance of having a legal framework conducive to freedom of expression, freedom of the media and freedom of assembly in place in time for the forthcoming elections,” the EU said.
