Harare, Zimbabwe (News of the South)-Unconfirmed reports state that targeted sanctions imposed upon Zimbabwe will be revoked soon in light of the resignation of Robert Mugabe from being President.
Mugabe resigned from power recently and his deputy Emerson Mnangagwa is now leading the Southern Africa nation with his inauguration happening last Friday.
The sanctions have been in place since 2002 and restricted Mugabe from EU travelling, froze some of his assets and banned EU member states from trading arms with Zimbabwe.
On his 93rd birthday the EU Council voted to partially lift an arms embargo to allow for trade of explosives used in mining and infrastructure. However other restrictions on the country still exists.
However President Mnangagwa has already expressed his desire to build back relations with Western governments who have been at crossroads with the Mugabe led government for more than a decade.
Speaking to the House of Commons last Wednesday British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson expressed delight with Mugabe’s resignation hailing the move as the first step in rebuilding ties with its former colony.
“My honourable friend sets out what I think would be a fine and noble aspiration, both for the Commonwealth and for Zimbabwe. But of course, I must caution him that several steps need to be gone through before that can happen,” Johnson said.
“There must be free and fair elections next year, it then falls to Zimbabwe to apply to the Commonwealth secretariat and then to make clear to the Commonwealth and to the world that Zimbabwe fulfils the criteria on human rights, on rule of law, on democracy, that are necessary for Commonwealth membership,” he said.
The Commonwealth – whose nations represent nearly one-third of the world’s seven billion people – banned Mugabe from its decision-making council in 2002, after he was accused of using massive force and fraud to win re-election at home.
In the immediate aftermath of Mnangagwa getting into power the British Minister for Africa Rory Stewart visited the country and after meeting Mnangagwa has been carrying out meetings with various sectors involved in governance issues.
This series of events has filled many with optimism that Zimbabwe’s woes may be slowly coming to an end with a shunning by the West having exacerbated the economic crisis in the country.
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