Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday toned down his rhetoric against western governments, usually the target of the octogenarian leader’s venom and elected to mend frosty relations between Harare and Brussels.
Mugabe traditionally abuses public addresses to rail at western governments which he repeatedly blames for the southern African country’s political andeconomic ills.
But the former liberation hero on Tuesday digressed from his usually combative disposition and devoted much of his address on outlining his government’s proposed plans to lift the country out of a decade long economic calamity.
In a speech marking the official opening of the second session of the seventh parliament of Zimbabwe Mugabe hailed the re-engagement process underway between Harare and Brussels aimed at normalizing stalled relations.
“Following the launch of the Zimbabwe-European Union dialogue in Brussels, early this year, our re-engagement with the European bloc is gathering momentum. However, as our Inclusive Government re-engages the Western countries we expect those countries that have imposed the illegal sanctions which have hurt and continue to hurt our economy and the generality of our people, to remove them. Our country remains in a positive stance to enter into fresh, friendly and cooperative relations with all those countries that have been hostile to us in the past,” Mugabe said.
Relations between Harare and western governments have been frosty since 2002 when the EU and the US and several other governments imposed targeted travel sanctions on President Mugabe and several of his lieutenants to protest against the country’s poor human rights record and fraudulent elections.
Western governments say these sanctions are unlikely to be lifted any time soon until the coalition government fully implements the provisions of the Global Political Agreement signed by Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara and which paved the way for the formation of the fragile coalition government.
He also said the government had picked two investors to take over the controversial Chiyadzwa Diamond Fields, President Robert Mugabe has revealed. He said the engagement of the investors would help bring progress to Chiyadzwa.
“The diamond industry has continued to catch the attention of inventors. So far, two serious investors have been selected,” said Mugabe, without naming the investors.
“The engagement of the investors will help bring progress to Chiyadzwa, where measures, to ensure the orderly relocation of the local families to pave way for full-scale commercial mining, are already underway.”
He said the Mines and Minerals Amendment, which is set to sail through the current session, would seek to strengthen the relationship between government and mining houses.
Mugabe said the proposed amendments sought to broaden the ownership rights in the mining sector in line with the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment policy, promote foreign direct investment, enforce the “use it or lose it” principle so as to decisively deal with speculative holding of claims and to reform the Exclusive Prospective Order System in order to facilitate exploration of new deposits.
By John Mokwetsi
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