Zimbabwe condemns EU sanctions

‘‘They said they were going to do it and they have done it. We said as Africans who fought for our liberation against some of these European countries, we would defend our independence and sovereignty and that’s what we are going to do,’’ he said.

The EU, angered by Zimbabwe’s refusal to let its observers freely monitor presidential elections on March 9-10, imposed sanctions on President Robert Mugabe’s government and ordered its observer team to leave.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels imposed ‘‘targeted sanctions’’ with immediate effect yesterday.

Moyo described the decision as ‘‘an orchestrated and self-fulfilling process. There is no amount of hostile action through sanctions or otherwise that will make us move from our principle to defend our independence,’’ he said.

‘‘We will never allow a situation where our sovereign rights are hijacked under the guise of elections observation.’’

EU ministers said they were seriously concerned about political violence, human rights abuses and media restrictions which threatened the prospect of a free and fair election.

The sanctions include stopping more than €115m in development aid for the 2002-2007 period, a ban on EU travel for Mugabe and 20 Cabinet ministers, and freezing their assets in Europe.

The EU said it will also pull out 30 European elections observers already in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe has been shaken by political violence for the past two years. Opposition supporters, human rights activists and many international officials blame the violence on Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party.

Mugabe, 77, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain, is fighting to maintain his 22-year grip on power. As his popularity has waned, he has imposed curbs on journalists and opposition parties and many of his critics have been attacked or threatened with prosecution.

In a defiant statement on state TV on Sunday, a visibly angry Mugabe said Zimbabwe was capable of running its own elections without interference from Western countries.

Mugabe earlier this month banned election observers from Britain, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Sweden and The Netherlands, accusing them of supporting the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

The European sanctions came two days after Zimbabwe expelled Pierre Schori, head of a 30 member EU election monitoring team.

Schori, Sweden’s ambassador to the UN, attended the EU foreign ministers meeting. He recommended against sanctions but said he agreed the observers had to withdraw to spare them physical abuse and insult.

‘‘There was no ground for an effective and credible EU mission,’’ he said. He added Zimbabwean officials took an ‘‘aggressive approach’’ against all EU personnel, including diplomats.