EU unable to deal with Mugabe

In an interview with Mmegi yesterday, European Union (EU) acting Head of Delegation, Linah Sund, who had just learnt about the shipment, said that if the reports were true it was regrettable. She said that there was nothing the EU could do about the shipment.  With respect to a possible link between delayed elections' results and the shipment, she said that there was no evidence that the two were connected.  Sund is acting for Paul Malin who is in Mauritius attending the SADC Summit on Zimbabwe. Chinese ambassador to Botswana Ding Xiaowen could not be reached for comment either because he is also said to be attending the same meeting in Mauritius.

The 84-year-old President Robert Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, has withheld the results of the March 29 elections to the chagrin of the international community except for South African President Thabo Mbeki who has described the situation in Zimbabwe as "manageable" and that there is no crisis there.