THE United Kingdom is pushing for a full-scale debate on the Zimbabwe crisis at the forthcoming EU-Africa Summit in Portugal, the House of Commons was told last week. They were also told the British government would not welcome a visit by Gideon Gono, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.....
THE United Kingdom is pushing for a full-scale debate on the Zimbabwe crisis at the forthcoming EU-Africa Summit in Portugal, the House of Commons was told last week.
They were also told the British government would not welcome a visit by Gideon Gono, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Meg Munn said it was not just that Mugabe was detested in the UK. She said Gono would not be allowed into the UK in the event that he wanted to travel there.
Responding to calls by MPs for the government to slap a travel ban on Gono whom they said was responsible for "10 000% inflation that is wrecking the lives of millions of Zimbabweans" Munn said:
"I will try and be robust in response. Gideon Gono is not welcome in the UK. He does not intend to travel here, and we do not intend to let him come."
On the EU-Africa summit, if the UK succeeded in having Zimbabwe put on the agenda, this could turn into a major embarrassment for Mugabe who may attend the Summit, set for Lisbon in December.
Portugal, which took over the six-month presidency of the EU, announced last month it would invite Mugabe, despite opposition from other EU states.
Munn said the UK was committed to the EU-Africa partnership but would not allow Mugabe to disrupt it.
"We do not want anything to overshadow this work, including Robert Mugabe," Munn said.
About the forthcoming summit, she said:
"We believe that any conference that goes ahead should, in our view, include a specific discussion on the situation in Zimbabwe."
This is likely to be opposed by other African states which have supported Zimbabwe.
But Munn would not say whether the new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown would boycott the summit if Mugabe was formally invited.
Brown told The Sunday Times recently he would not go to Lisbon if Mugabe was among the leaders invited.
Mugabe is banned from travelling to Europe and four years ago a similar summit failed to take place when a dispute arose over his participation.
Munn said her government was concerned by the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe and would continue to "to shine the UN spotlight on Mugabe's human rights abuses".
"We pushed for 50 countries to condemn him at the Human Rights Council in March and we will push for Zimbabwe to be back on December's agenda," she said.
Other measures included talking to China to stop bailing out Mugabe.
"There are always many rumours that China and other states are providing loans or support to Zimbabwe and we know that Robert Mugabe is always looking for lifelines to keep him afloat. We have discussed with China how it engages with Africa and Zimbabwe specifically. We want China to support the new African agenda led by Africans..." she said.
Munn revealed that the British government had tried without success to include Gono's name on the "smart sanctions" list of people banned from travelling to Europe.
The Members of the House of Commons had no kind words for Gono.
John Bercow described Gono as "both a craven lickspittle of Mugabe and the architect of the destruction of the livelihoods of millions of Zimbabweans".
Gono could not be reached for comment yesterday.
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