UK stance on Zimbabwe unlikely to change: Longworth

Peter Longworth, the outgoing British High Commissioner to Zimbabwe, said his country’s hard-line stance on Zimbabwe was unlikely to change, regardless of the re-election a fortnight ago of Tony Blair as prime minister, the “Daily News” has reported. Addressing the Zimbabwe-Britain Society in Harare on Tuesday, Longworth said as long as the government of Zimbabwe did not address the problems related to its management of the economy and the fast-track land resettlement programme, Britain would maintain its hard-line stance, the report said.

“The future relations with this country have not been fully revealed yet, but I believe the attitude of the British government will be almost the same as it was. Not a great deal will change in the domestic and foreign policy,” Longworth was quoted as saying. Mugabe last week sent a congratulatory message to Blair, expressing optimism that Blair’s re-election would provide an opportunity for the two countries to patch up their differences. Longworth said the British government and taxpayers wanted to support a government with a well-managed economy, a transparent land reform programme and policies to alleviate poverty. “In some cases when you want to achieve those objectives, you are accused of infringing on the sovereignty of another country,” Longworth said. “It is said to be foreign interference, but we do not believe that.”