PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has rejected a request by Britain to send election observers for general elections set to be held early next year, the ZBC reported last night.
Mugabe, who met Britain’s new ambassador Deborah Bronnert for the first time, said Zimbabwe “cannot invite people who have imposed sanctions on her to be observers”.
“By imposing sanctions, Britain had demonstrated her dislike of one side while favouring the other,” the ZBC quoted Mugabe as telling the envoy, making reference to his Zanu PF party and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T.
She told Mugabe she brought greetings from Queen Elizabeth II who said Zimbabwe is “a country of great importance to the UK and that she [the Queen] would want to get weekly reports from her”, the ZBC reported.
Speaking to the UK Foreign Office's internal publication last month, Bronnert said: “I am honoured and delighted to be taking up this post at such an important time for Zimbabwe, as the parties in the inclusive government work towards greater reform and free and fair elections.
“The UK has long been a friend to the Zimbabwean people and I look forward to ensuring that that commitment remains as strong as ever.”
Relations between the two countries frayed over the last decade after Britain accused Mugabe of electoral theft and human rights abuses, while leading an international lobby to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe.
Mugabe, on the other hand, accused Britain of reacting badly to his government’s policy to acquire land from British descendents to resettle landless blacks.
However, Mugabe told Ambassador Bronnert that “despite everything that has happened between Zimbabwe and Britain, there is room for dialogue and history has a track record of cooperation between Zanu PF and past Conservative governments”.