10 Sep 2009
Top EU officials are to visit Zimbabwe after seven years, to work on normalizing ties, as African leaders have urged the removal of all sanctions on Harare.

It will be the first such visit since the European Union imposed crippling sanctions on President Robert Mugabe's government in 2002.

The trip dubbed as only a preparatory visit aimed at reviving political dialogue between the West and Zimbabwe.

The EU's Aid and Development Commissioner Karel de Gucht and Swedish Development Minister Gunilla Carlsson will head the delegation in talks with Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and other senior officials, EU officials said on Thursday.

The development comes as South African leaders on Wednesday urged the international community to lift all sanctions against Zimbabwe, arguing that it would help its power-sharing government to work smoothly.

European powers have however ruled out the immediate removal of all sanctions on Harare.

Pro-western opposition leader Tsvangirai wants a removal of sanctions to be conditional on how well the one-year-long power-sharing deal has been implemented.

But this week the leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), along with South African President Jacob Zuma, rejected the proposal, saying there should be no conditions placed on the removal of sanctions.

Mugabe agreed to share power with his long-time rival Tsvangirai last September, in a bid to prevent Zimbabwe from lurching towards total economic collapse.


presstv