Saturday 29 March - election day in Zimbabwe. Whereas in the country people were lining up in long winding queues since the early morning hours, members of the Dutch and Belgium Diaspora demonstrated in front of the Zimbabwean embassy in Brussels.

As a sign of protest for being excluded from the 2008 elections the Global Zimbabwe Diaspora Forum and the Zimbabwe Humanitarian Crisis Organization carried out symbolic elections. In this election the candidate of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Morgan Tsvangirai was the clear winner. Simba Makoni, former finance minister and long-time adherer of Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and Mugabe himself received no noteworthy votes.

Brussels, 27/03/08: On the day of the Zimbabwean elections, Saturday 29 March, the Global Zimbabwe-Diaspora Forum is organising a protest in front of the Zimbabwean Embassy in Brussels to show their discontent with the Mugabe regime and the upcoming elections. The programme of the organised protest (from 11.00-13.00) includes a number of speeches from Zimbabwe experts and political figures  together with media stunts such as “mock” elections and traditional Zimbabwean dancing. The participants will also get first hand news from different polling stations in Zimbabwe, with which the organisers will be in constant touch.

For further information contact +32 (0) 49 78 74 751 or +32 (0) 48 69 96 147

Brussels, 20/05/08: At the end of March EEPA released a report from a Roundtable discussion on the subject “Elections & Post-Elections period in Zimbabwe: What to do after 29 March 2008? Views from Civil Society and Dialogue with the European Union". The report was sent out to stakeholders in the European Institutions and to NGOs.

Click here to read the report from the roundtable meeting.

Useful links:

• Media Institue of Southern Africa (MISA) Zimbabwe
• Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)
• Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
• Zimbabwe Watch
• Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU)
• Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité (CIDSE)

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Brussels 26/03/08: Three months after the donor’s meeting for Palestine in Paris, the European Commission has just made available € 229 million to the Palestinian-European socio-economic management PEGASE mechanism and € 71 million to support “United Nations Relief and Works Agency” for Palestine refugees. Meanwhile, the latest armed clash between Israeli forces and Hamas militia has left behind one clear conclusion: civilians on both sides of the frontier line pay a heavy price that none of them should have paid. "It is immoral and illegal to target civilians either for self-defence or to end an occupation," says Menachem Klein, professor at Bar Ilan University, Israel

Click here to read a recent article by Menachem Klein

Click here to read the European Commission's press release

Ljubljana, 18/03/08. Louis Michel, the European Commissioner for Development was met by a protest from civil society actors and MPs from Europe and Africa when he arrived at the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. The action questioned trade agreements being pressed on African, Caribbean and Pacific countries by the European Commission, as well as the EU's approach to planning its use of aid to these countries.  Under the slogan "Brussels made EPAs do not fit ACP" and  "Brussels led CSPs will not lead to MDGs" the protestors challenged the practices of the European Commission.  In response Michel said “I do not agree with you." When an African civil society representative said "The poor are tired, there are too many hungry people in this world. The Commissioner should listen to them” Michel stated "if you want to remain poor, just be against the EPAs.” He then referred to his recently published pamphlet on EPAs.