Germany's Merkel Hopes For African Leaders' Support
On Zimbabwe Sanctions
July 5, 2008
BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday that she hopes African
leaders will support tougher sanctions against Zimbabwe when they participate at
the upcoming Group of Eight summit.
Leaders including South African President Thabo Mbeki, who Zimbabwe's opposition
has accused of bias toward President Robert Mugabe, and Nigerian President Umaru
Yar'Adua have been invited to a meeting as part of the summit in Japan, starting
Monday.
Merkel told The Associated Press this week that the European Union would seek
"all possible sanctions" against Zimbabwe's government and leader in the wake of
its widely denounced presidential election runoff.
She underlined that stance in her weekly video message, in which she looked
ahead to the G-8 summit.
"We will confer on how we can toughen sanctions against Zimbabwe, and I hope
that we will also get support from our African colleagues here," Merkel said.
The EU already has travel bans and an asset freeze in place on Mugabe and other
senior Zimbabwean officials. However, African Union leaders have failed to
deliver a strong unified message over voting widely dismissed as a farce after
opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out, citing violence and
intimidation.
Beyond Zimbabwe, Merkel said that the G-8 and African leaders would discuss "how
the industrial countries can help African countries strengthen their own farming
sector" in the face of soaring food prices.
She added that they would consider what standards should be applied to growing
crops for biofuels "so that no competition with food production worldwide can
arise."
Merkel said it was "particularly important" for the world's leading industrial
nations to confer with top emerging economies — China, India, Mexico, Brazil and
South Africa — in discussing how to tackle high energy prices.
"We will consider to what extent it is possible to stem speculation and bring
output into line with demand," she said.
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Source: Herald Tribune