afrol News, 17 July - An agreement to toughen sanctions against Zimbabwe next Tuesday by the European Union Ambassadors has been reached, diplomats said.

Under the new agreement, businessmen backing the Zimbabwean government would be slapped with sanctions, the first time in history.

A meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers in Brussels next week is expected to endorse the new sanctions. More than 130 individuals have been slapped with the bloc's visa bans and an asset freeze.

However, the EU now wants to add about 40 others, including security officials of Zimbabwe, to the list. Those accused of involvement in the election violence and business figures bent on backing the Mugabe regime would be mainly targeted for the new sanctions.

Five companies could also be slapped with sanctions, diplomats said.

On Monday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced plans to seek more sanctions from the EU against officials of the Zimbabwean regime.

British and its allies - the United States and France - were shocked last week after Russia and China vetoed against an arms embargo, travel bans and assets freezing of Zimbabwean officials, defending that the blocked motion would contradict diplomatic efforts to solve Zimbabwe's political crisis.

"I think it is difficult to justify the vetoes that were put on the Zimbabwean resolution by both China and Russia," Mr. Brown told a news conference in London.

"I think it is very hard to defend taking action when we know that we have got an illegitimate government that is holding power through violence, that is arresting people and putting them as political prisoners, incarcerating them, and a government that seems determined to hold onto power.

"That's why I regret what China and Russia did. Russia in particular had supported what we were proposing at the G8."

By staff writer

© afrol News

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