Multipronged Strategies for a Multifaceted Crisis? A Critical Reflection on EU Policy towards Zimbabwe

Abstract

Developments in Zimbabwe since the formation of the Unity Government in February 2009 seem to indicate a relative if painfully slow halting of the macro-economic decline of the country. The country has experienced 4.7 per cent GDP growth in 2009, schools and hospitals have begun to operate, civil servants are being paid and there is a visible reduction in human rights violations in the country (International Crisis Group, 2010). Yet, President Mugabe and the top leadership of Zimbabwe’s African National Union — Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) continue to hold a tight rein on political and military power in the country, delaying key provisions of the power-sharing agreement signed with the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and continuing to display strong resistance to the possibility of democratic transition in the country.