Brussels - The European Union's top foreign-policy official said Friday that he was "encouraged" by the night's reported power- sharing deal in Zimbabwe ahead of an EU meeting which had been set to bring in new sanctions against the regime of President Robert Mugabe. EU foreign-policy supremo Javier Solana "welcomes the announcement by (South African) President Thabo Mbeki of the conclusion of a political agreement between the Zimbabwean parties," a statement from Solana's Brussels office said.
Solana "is confident that this agreement, to be signed on 15 September when its details will be revealed, will allow Zimbabwe to find a way out of its deep crisis in the interest of the Zimbabwean people, but also of Southern Africa as a whole," the statement said.
On Thursday, EU officials meeting in Brussels agreed that the bloc should extend its current range of visa bans and asset freezes to cover more members of Mugabe's regime. EU foreign ministers had been expected to ratify that decision at a regular meeting on Monday.
But following the announcement overnight to Friday of a power- sharing deal between Mugabe and his challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai, officials in Brussels said that the ministers would now have to decide whether or not further sanctions should be applied.
The debate is likely to be complicated by the fact that full details of the power-sharing deal are only set to be revealed on Monday, just as the ministerial meeting begins.
