Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Blaker (Conservative). It was answered on Monday, 16 March 2009.

Zimbabwe

Question: My Lords, I am sure that the whole House will agree with what the noble Lord has just said about Tsvangirai’s wife. Were not specific commitments made in the Memorandum of Understanding between political parties in Zimbabwe? Does not Mugabe’s party continue flagrantly to breach those commitments? Does not the memorandum also say that implementation of the global political agreement, ""shall be underwritten and guaranteed by the Facilitator, SADC and the AU"?" Is not the facilitator Thabo Mbeki? Is the Minister aware of any censure by the guarantors over those continuing breaches or, given the expectation by SADC members that the UK will provide funding for Zimbabwe, have we been given any indication by SADC and the African Union of measures that they intend to adopt to make good their guarantee?

Answer: My Lords, as I indicated in my original Answer, there are one or two developments that give some cause for optimism, but progress is very slow, as the noble Lord indicated. That is why the British Government are extremely guarded in our response to developments in Zimbabwe. The noble Lord is right that there is a role that Thabo Mbeki is to play in monitoring the development of and encouraging the restoration of those features which I have indicated in terms of the rule of law and the return to democracy. We wait and see. At this stage, it would be premature to reach judgments, but the noble Lord is right to raise the issue. We must be watchful of what are very limited developments in Zimbabwe at present.

Secondary information