“With the refusal of Zanu (PF) to honour the power-sharing agreement, we want to draw the attention of the international media to the plight of Zimbabwe,” said a Vigil member. “We are planning to mark the day by handing over our petition demanding EU action to alleviate the suffering in Zimbabwe.
The petition urges the UK government and the European Union to suspend government-to-government aid to all 14 SADC countries until they abide by their joint commitment to uphold human rights in the region. The Vigil suggests that the money should instead be used to feed the starving in Zimbabwe.
“We are not, of course, calling for a halt to humanitarian aid: food, medicine and so on,” said the Vigil member. “On the contrary, we want this increased to meet the desperate demand. What we are talking about is government-to-government balance of payments support. We want this money, and it amounts to many hundreds of millions of pounds a year, to be used instead to finance refugee camps in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique to which Zimbabweans can flee for their lives without fear of prompting xenophobic violence. The money would be used to fund food, shelter, medicine and education no longer available in Zimbabwe.”
Zimbabwe’s future is in our hands, say members of the London Vigil, but are also calling on the UK and EU to take responsibility for relieving suffering in the country
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