Protestors try to block Zim government invite to French summit

By Violet Gonda
2 February 2007

At least 50 protestors demonstrated outside the French Embassy in London Friday to demand that France should not invite members of the Mugabe regime to the Franco-Africa Summit in two weeks time. The European Union targeted sanctions, introduced in 2002 against individuals in the Zimbabwean government and due for review this month, include an asset freeze and travel ban.

But there has been an outcry from human rights campaigners in Europe after France refused to rule out inviting Mugabe or other members of the government to the summit in Cannes.

Planned by Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) and Amicus - the UK trade union movement, demonstrators gathered outside the French Embassy for two hours in London asking the French to fully support the renewal of targeted sanctions.

Harriet Eisner, Amicus Senior International Officer said; “It was a great demonstration. There was Amicus, ACTSA and there were also members from other trade unions and organisations in the UK who wanted to demonstrate solidarity with the trade unionists and all the people in Zimbabwe.”

She said trade union officials in the UK wrote to the French ambassador and in France the French trade union movement have written to their Foreign Minister. They are asking President Jacques Chirac not to invite the Mugabe regime to the summit, as this would be in contravention of the EU targeted sanctions.

Eisner said: “Sanctions are very necessary because that is our way of the international community of saying - no to Robert Mugabe, enough is enough and human rights for people in Zimbabwe.”

Campaigners in other parts of Europe are said to have been making contact and writing to their French Embassies. “It’s been a European wide action. We haven’t yet heard whether there have been demonstrations from other countries but we know the pace is gathering and this is very much a European wide initiative,” Eisner said.