The European Union finally took official action against Zimbabwe‘s Robert Mugabe after Mugabe ejected a Swedish diplomat who was heading a mission to observe Zimbabwe’s upcoming election. The EU’s sanctions, however, will have no real effect on Mugabe.
Mugabe is now banned from traveling to European Union nations, any assets he has in the EU will be frozen, and Zimbabwe is barred from buying arms from the EU. As The BBC’s Paul Reynolds summed up the likely reaction by Mugabe,
The European Union has therefore played its card. But it is not a particularly strong card, since Mr. Mugabe is unlikely to be much moved by not being able to travel to Europe.
These sort of sanctions might have been a little more helpful 18-24 months ago, but the situation in Zimbabwe is way beyond being influenced but such tepid sanctions. Or as Reynolds eloquently put it,
The European Union has huffed and now it has puffed.
But it is unlikely to bring Robert Mugabe’s house down.
Source:
Analysis: EU sanctions lack teeth. Paul Reynolds, The BBC, February 18, 2002.