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Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - Web posted at 1:34:10 pm GMT

HARARE - Zimbabwean state media said on Tuesday the threat of European Union sanctions against President Robert Mugabe and his ruling elite were part of a British campaign to "demonise" its former colony.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday agreed that if Zimbabwe prevented the deployment of EU election observers by February 3, a travel ban would be imposed on Mugabe and his inner circle.

The foreign assets of these decision-makers would be frozen and a ban would be imposed on the export to Zimbabwe of arms and other equipment which could be used for internal repression.

The state-owned Herald newspaper said Mugabe had told journalists on Monday: "The EU was demonising Zimbabwe despite the fact that the country had a tradition of regular and democratic elections."

ZBC radio said: "Independent political analysts and Zimbabwe government officials accuse the United Kingdom of leading a campaign to get the European Union to impose sanctions against Zimbabwe."

An information ministry spokesman declined to comment on the EU ultimatum.

Mugabe, facing his strongest opposition challenge in 22 years, has been accused by the international community of trying to rig the southern African country's March 9-10 presidential election.

The threat of EU sanctions came as the Mugabe government was to try again on Tuesday to push through parliament a bill aimed at banning foreign journalists and tightly controlling local correspondents.

The media bill, which has been delayed by procedural problems and some opposition within the ruling ZANU-PF party, is the latest in a raft of legislation designed to help Mugabe keep his stranglehold on power.

A security bill signed into law by Mugabe last week criminalises criticism of the president.

Parliament, where ZANU-PF hold 93 of the 150 seats, has also approved electoral amendments banning independent election monitors at the polls and denying voting rights to millions of Zimbabweans abroad.

Zimbabwean state radio reported on Monday that Mugabe had invited observers from the EU, the Commonwealth and some African countries. But he would not allow in observers from Britain, which he accuses of backing the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

The MDC said foreign observers would have little effect against laws outlawing campaign rallies without police authority, banning the distribution of leaflets and threatening jail terms for criticising the president.

"Observers can come but they cannot change the pieces of legislation which are barring us from campaigning freely for the elections," MDC spokesman Learnmore Jongwe told Reuters. Nampa-Reuters

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