The European Union (EU) on Monday spared President Emmerson Mnangagwa and top security chiefs sanctions.
The EU head of policy, Federica Mogherini said that the bloc will not add any new names to the sanctions list but will continue to monitor events in Zimbabwe. Only former President Robert Mugabe and wife Grace were retained on the list. She said:
On Zimbabwe, there was a council decision today to uphold the embargo and restrictive measures against the Zimbabwe Defence Industries, to uphold individual restrictive measures against Robert Mugabe and Grace, to uphold suspended individual measures against the Vice-President (Constantino Chiwenga) the commander of Zimbabwe Defence Forces (Philip Valerio Sibanda), the Minister of Lands and Agriculture (Perrance Shiri) and to lift two individual measures (Augustine Chihuri and Happyton Bonyongwe).
All decisions on listings, including new listings, can be swiftly adopted if the situation requires it. We are monitoring the situation very closely and stand ready to adjust our decision.