EU gives Mugabe last chance

Mugabe assets could be frozen if the elections are not deemed free and fair

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels have given Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe one last chance before imposing sanctions.

The EU said on Monday it would impose "targeted sanctions" if the southern African country refused to let in EU election observers by February 3 or if it hampered free media coverage of the voting.

Zimbabwe, facing its biggest political and economic crisis since winning independence from Britain 22 years ago, holds a presidential election on March 9-10.

European nations, led by Britain, have accused Mugabe of repressing the opposition and attempting to stop the polls coming under proper scrutiny.

CNN's Robin Oakley said that finally EU foreign ministers had run out of patience with Mugabe and his regime.

They had warned them that they will face personal sanctions unless thay rapidly put an end to political violence and intimidation.

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Now any one of four separate failings, Oakley said, will trigger the sanctions.

They will be imposed if the Mugabe government does not let in a U.N. observer mission by February 3, if it prevents the international media from reporting the elections, if the human rights situation gets any worse -- and they can be imposed later if the election is assessed as not being free and fair.

Said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw: "Mr Mugabe now has a choice: either he calls of the thugs, allows the media to operate freely, and lets the population of Zimbabwe make a democratic choice, or he and his key ministers will pay the price."

That price would be a freeze on the assets held in Europe by him and his regime, and a visa ban on them travelling anywhere in Europe.

Said the foreign ministers in a statement: "The EU has decided it will... implement targeted sanctions if the government of Zimbabwe prevents the deployment of an EU observation mission starting by February 3, 2002, or if it later prevents the mission from operating effectively." .

The EU also reserved the right to introduce the sanctions -- which would impose on President Robert Mugabe and his close associates a travel ban and a freeze on their overseas assets -- if "the government of Zimbabwe prevents the international media from having free access to cover the election."

The statement said Zimbabwe could equally trigger sanctions if it allowed a "serious deterioration in the... human rights situation" or if its election was considered "not free and fair."

Zimbabwean state radio said on Monday that Mugabe -- who faces his greatest electoral challenge in 22 years -- had invited foreign observers but would not allow monitors from Britain, which he accuses of backing the opposition.

Later on Monday a British government official said that the EU's aim was to dispatch an "advance party" of six election monitors to Zimbabwe to arrive next Sunday.

A further 30 would be on the ground by February 9 -- and another 100 in the final week before polling, which takes place on March 9 and 10.

Britain -- the ex-colonial power -- had pressed the hardest in Brussels for tough "smart" sanctions against Zimbabwe. The country's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai had also urged EU countries to impose "targeted sanctions" on Mugabe.

UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had drawn up a plan for "sanctions targeted at the leaders of the ZANU-PF, including Robert Mugabe, which amount to travel bans and freezes on their financial assets, some of which are very substantial indeed."

"We are not proposing economic sanctions at the moment. Mugabe has already imposed the most terrible economic sanctions on his own people by collapsing the Zimbabwean economy."

On Wednesday, Commonwealth foreign ministers will gather in London for talks on Zimbabwe's suspension from the 54-nation group mainly made up of former British colonies.

Britain is pressing for the southern African country's suspension.

The only reservation among EU ministers was the view of some EU nations including France that sanctions could give Mugabe an excuse to crack down further and introduce more intimidation against the media.

Other major issues at the summit included the Middle East -- where ministers issued a tough communique calling on Israel to end its policy of isolating Palestinian Authority president Yasser Arafat.

Other items on the agenda were preparation of a Convention on the Future of the European Union, terrorism in Spain -- which currently holds the EU presidency -- EU aid to Afghanistan, relations with Russia over the Baltic port of Kaliningrad and whether the EU should take over the running of the international police force in Bosnia next year.