Sweden to maintain aid freeze

Sweden, once one of Zimbabwe’s biggest bilateral aid donors, has announced that it would keep a freeze on new financial support to the country until the government upheld the rule of law and adopted sound economic policies. Sweden cut off aid to Zimbabwe at the beginning of the year in protest at the seizure of white-owned farms by government supporters demanding land reforms, and pre-election violence, widely blamed on members of the governing party of President Robert Mugabe in the run-up to June’s parliamentary polls. Swedish ambassador to Zimbabwe Lennarth Hjelmaker on Thursday said the Nordic country was monitoring the post-election political and economic situation in the country, but the aid remained frozen for now. “The Swedish authorities will follow closely the land acquisition process, especially the issue of transparency, before any new aid is signed with Zimbabwe,” he added.