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Sifelani Tsiko Senior Writer
European Union countries must embrace re-engagement with Zimbabwe and recalibrate their stance to open doors to a range of economic possibilities that could help create more jobs and put Zimbabwe on a firmer growth path, French Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Laurent Delahousse says.
Speaking at ceremony to celebrate the sixth anniversary of a Franco–Zimbabwe research platform and the awarding of Mphil and PhD scholarships to eight Zimbabwean students on Tuesday in Harare, Mr Delahousse said EU countries must resist the impulse to foist negative publicity about the country and instead redouble efforts to engage Zimbabwe.

“We must re-engage Zimbabwe and put our differences behind us,” he said. “The general message that France wants to tell Zimbabwe is the message of friendship and engagement.

“We want to work with Zimbabwe, to co-operate and work with Zimbabweans. We want the country to create more jobs and enjoy economic growth through closer ties with France and other EU countries.”

Ambassador Delahousse said both sides needed to be open to talks of all kinds of formats and show good faith to revisiting diplomacy that could minimize harm to the country and end a protracted volatile standoff that had deepened over the years. Re-engagement, he said, was the most promising way to end the impasse.

“We need to be ambassadors of Zimbabwe here and to the rest of the world and Zimbabwe needs to be the ambassador of France in Europe and the rest of the world,” he said. “The country has been at odds with the international community on issues of human rights and elections. We need to put all this behind us and move to support Zimbabwe to use its natural resources to create jobs and growth.”
He said both sides stood to gain a great deal from the normalization of relations. The EU countries and Zimbabwe, Mr Delahousse further said, had to overcome the mistrust that had built up over a decade to chart a new course in relations.

Relations between Zimbabwe and the West turned sour after  Government embarked on the historic land reform programme.
In response, the West imposed illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe to force the country to give up on the agrarian reforms. France and Belgium have in recent months broken ranks with the EU and made overtures to Zimbabwe in what political analysts suggest it could be time for better ties.