Zimbabwe
UN sanctions and a guerrilla uprising led to the first free elections of 1979 in Zimbabwe, which were won by Robert Mugabe. He led his country (as Zimbabwe) to independence from the colonial rulers in 1980. Since that date, Mr. Mugabe has been and still is recognized as the liberator of his country from colonial powers, held in high esteem by other liberation movements in Southern Africa.
Mr. Mugabe has been the country's only ruler since independence and under his leadership the country - in the eighties referred to as Africa's breadbasket- has spiralled down economically, with widespread shortages of basic commodities, unemployment rates of over 95 per cent and an inflation rate of 165,000 per cent.
Opposition leaders and citizens of Zimbabwe who do not support the Mugabe regime faced extremely hard times in the run up to the second round of the presidential elections of 27 June 2008. The opposition party's MDC negotiator Mr. Biti, for example, was jailed for two weeks and released on bail, still facing charges of treason, which carry the death penalty. Many other opposition supporters were driven from their homes, brutally molested and even killed.
The EPD's main goal in all Transitional Programmes is to strengthen the interface between political and civil society, and to strengthen the European relations with Zimbabwe. Being based in Brussels, the EPD hopes to support brokering the messages of Zimbabwean democracy defenders and the Inclusive Government to Brussels' policy makers.
Furthermore, 20 years after the democratic transitions started in Eastern European countries (and 35 years after the transition to democracy in Southern Europe) the EPD would like to make the knowledge gained through European transitions available to the Zimbabweans.
At a meeting with the EPD during his visit to Europe, Hon. Prime Minister Tsvangirai stated that, "Eastern Europeans might have a better understanding of our problems than other westerners. Our position resembles that of the Polish democratic forces 20 years ago, they had to co-operate with the communists in a transition government. We should learn from history more, for transitions like this have been done before. A big difference with our situation is that the Polish democrats had a strong godfather: the US. That is why it is so important for us to make sure that the EU-Zimbabwe dialogue will take root. We work hard to link the political relationship between EU and Zimbabwe to a re-engagement of development cooperation under the European Development Fund (art. 8,10th EDF)''
EPD projects in Zimbabwe:
SUPPORT TO VICTIMS OF THE 2008 POLITICAL VIOLENCE (with Heal Zimbabwe Trust)
CIVIL-POLITICAL SOCIETY PLATFORM ON CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
Other articles about Zimbabwe on the EPD Website