EU foreign ministers today threatened the Zimbabwe government with "targeted sanctions" from February 3rd if it does not agree by then to allow the deployment of EU observers for March elections.
British Foreign Secretary Mr Jack Straw warned Zimbabwe President Mr Robert Mugabe to co-operate with EU demands or "pay the price".
"Mr Mugabe now has a choice," PA quoted him as saying. "Either he calls off 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."
The European Union would target Mr Mugabe along with 20 top individuals in his inner circle, PA reported, who would be banned from travelling to EU states and their assets in the EU would be frozen.
The sanctions would also include a ban on the export to Zimbabwe of arms and equipment which could be used for "internal repression", the report said.
However the statement issued earlier by the EU ministers did not specify what sanctions might be imposed.
The ministers said, in addition to sanctions, they would break off talks if the government continued to oppose the observer mission.
Both measures, they said, would equally apply if Zimbabwe agreed to the observers but then prevented them from doing their job.
They said the threats would apply if the government stood in the way of the "free movement" of the international press covering the March 9-10th elections.
The "targeted sanctions" might also apply if there were "a serious degradation" in the country's human rights situation or "aggression" against the political opposition.
And, they might apply if the March elections are not run in a "free and fair manner," said the ministerial conclusions.
AFP