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Cde khaya Moyo

Lloyd Gumbo Herald Reporter
GERMANY is prepared to put aside differences with Zimbabwe and concentrate on common areas between the two countries, Ambassador Ulrich Klockner has said.
He made the remarks yesterday after paying a courtesy call on Senior Minister of State Cde Simon Khaya Moyo at his Munhumutapa offices.
Ambassador Klockner accompanied co-chairperson of a non-governmental organisation Help From Germany, Mr Klaus-Jurgen Hedrich.
“I think we had very good relationships and at the moment we have differences over some questions,” he said.

“But I think from the German side, we are prepared to put these differences aside at the moment and try to explore common ground in our co-operation. This is the position.

“This was also one of the points of discussion here with Senior Minister Moyo. He was very happy and we feel also encouraged by the many messages that we are getting now from the Zimbabwean Government and we want to continue to work together and find solutions so that we can resolve our differences.”

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Ambassador Klockner said he was optimistic relations between the two countries would improve.
Mr Hedrich, who is former Member of Parliament, said his organisation was not interested in interfering in the internal affairs of the country.

“HELP has a clear policy in the country. We have, for example, a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and Co-operative Development. That has nothing to do with interference in domestic politics,” said Mr Hedrich.
Germany, by virtue of being a member of the European Union, imposed illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe after the latter embarked on land redistribution that saw hundreds of thousands of indigenous citizens benefiting.

However, some senior officials from the Germany government have made indications that they would want the illegal embargo by the EU to be removed.

That country’s former ambassador to Zimbabwe, Ambassador Albrecht Conze, said the bloc was divided on the legality of the widely discredited sanctions.

Germany’s director-general of African Affairs Ambassador Walter Lindner recently said his country would push for an end to the illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe once there was a roadmap to free and fair elections. The July 31 harmonised elections were largely hailed by all the regional, continental and international organisations that observed the polls.

The organisations said the polls were conducted in a free and fair environment that warranted them being deemed credible.
Only Britain, the US and Australia disputed the conduct of the elections despite the fact that they did not observe the exercise.