European Union (EU) ambassador to Zimbabwe, Timo Olkkonen, said that the SADC anti-sanctions lobby is not convincing as the economic restrictions have a limited effect on the country’s economy.
Olkkonen told Alpha Media Holdings’ HStv recently that the SADC is, however, at liberty to state what it wants. He said:
Well, Sadc has the liberty of stating what it wants, that is their political statement that they came out with recently. When you look at the factual assessment about the facts, because in the Sadc communiqué, they were talking about the economic effects and the unfairness of it and from that perspective, we will not be convinced because we were just outlining the limited effect of the economic restrictions that the economic measures would have.
SADC has been lobbying for the removal of the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by Western countries, arguing that the embargo negatively affects the whole sub-region.
To that end, SADC has designated the 25th of October this year as a day for calling for the sanctions’ removal in solidarity with Zimbabwe.