In response to the increasingly dictatorial nature of the Zimbabwe regime, the European Union early this year enacted a number of sanctions against Zimbabwe, including a ban on travel by members of Zimbabwe’s government.
But, of course, they didn’t mean it. This month Zimbabwe’s Trade Minister was allowed to travel to Brussels, Belgium — which houses the headquarters for the European Union — for a series of talks related to issues in developing nations (previously Zimbabwean officials made trips to France and Italy). An article on the row in the British newspaper The Independent noted that,
Zimbabwe’s élite has already taken advantage of a loophole in the EU’s travel ban to attend UN-sponsored or international meetings in Italy and France. However critics argue that, by travelling to the EU’s headquarters in Brussels, the minister is exposing the sanctions to particular ridicule.
Something making a mockery of the EU? Imagine that!
Source:
Anger over visa for Zimbabwe minister. Stephen Castle, The Independent, September 26, 2002.