Zimbabwe watches UK exit from EU with interest

THE Government is watching with relative interest the developments in the European Union following the exit by Britain from the bloc yesterday. The British voted in a referendum to exit the EU resulting in Prime Minister David Cameron, who was against the move, immediately tendering his resignation.

Mr Cameron, who led the "Remain" campaign, said he would leave office by October.

The decision by the country to pull out of the EU also reportedly saw the British pound falling 10 percent against the United States dollar as the region got to grips with what has been described as a shock exit from the bloc it joined more than 40 years ago.

Britain has led a number of European countries in calling for the imposition of sanctions against Zimbabwe as a punitive measure against the country's land reform programme.

Analysts have observed that Britain was using its influence in the EU to elevate its bilateral tiff with Zimbabwe to an international level in a bid to isolate its former colony.

China and Russia in 2008 vetoed a resolution by the United Nations Security Council, pushed by Britain and the United States, to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe.

Then Russia's ambassador to the UN, Mr Vitaly Churkin, said there was no mandate to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe as the country was not a threat to international peace and security

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Joey Bimha, yesterday said it was too early to comment on the implications of Britain's EU exit on Zimbabwe

"It's too early to say. On the decisions of sanctions, there are other countries who are still members of the EU who wanted sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.

"It's not anything we can make a conclusion over because it wasn't Britain alone who wanted sanctions but was supported by one or two members. We can't therefore say with certainty anything about the implications for now," he said.

Reacting to the referendum results, the EU said it regretted but respected the decision by the British people to leave the regional body. This was after a meeting of the president of the European Council, Mr Donald Tusk, president of the European Parliament Mr Martin Schulz, holder of the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, Mr Mark Rutte, and the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker to discuss the developments.

"We now expect the United Kingdom government to give effect to this decision of the British people as soon as possible, however painful that process may be. Any delay would unnecessarily prolong uncertainty. We have rules to deal with this in an orderly way," they said in a joint statement. "Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union sets out the procedure to be followed if a Member State decides to leave the European Union."