HARARE, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- South Africa has reiterated its call for the European Union to drop illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe ahead of a landmark trip by a delegation from Brussels to Harare on Saturday.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will meet the three-man high-level EU delegation as part of continued efforts to thaw relations between Zimbabwe and the EU, The Herald said.
The visit of the troika is the first at such level since the EU imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe in a bid to influence the outcome of the 2002 presidential election.
South African President Jacob Zuma on Friday met Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose country holds the EU presidency.
According to The Herald, differences over Zimbabwe overshadowed the meeting with South Africa determined to push for an end to sanctions although the Swedish premier insisted the bloc was not ready to lift the embargo.
Zuma and other SADC leaders called, during a recent summit in Kinshasa, for an end to the sanctions and he made it clear that he would push the same demand with Prime Minister Reinfeldt.
"We are saying both of us understand where SADC comes from and where the EU comes from. But we are saying precisely because of that we need to engage so we can try and persuade the EU to lift sanctions," President Zuma said on Thursday.
Prime Minister Reinfeldt said the meeting with President Zuma would afford him an opportunity to learn more about the situation in Zimbabwe.
He said the visit was not in preparation for the lifting of sanctions against Harare. "I want to be clear: the EU is not prepared (for) lifting the restrictions we have on Zimbabwe," he said at a public address in Johannesburg on Thursday.
