The EU General Affairs Council today extended its restrictions on Mugabe and his senior aides, in force since 2004. He also added more than 60 other people and entities that are actively associated with violence or human rights abuses of the regime. "In a statement announcing the decision, the EU said that the situation in Zimbabwe has deteriorated sharply in recent months. The country is wracked by hyperinflation and a cholera epidemic that has killed more than 2,700 people and about 50,000 patients.
"The victims of this evil government is the people of Zimbabwe," he said. "The Council condemns the regime of its ongoing failure to address the most basic economic and social needs of its people."
There was no immediate reaction from the government of Mugabe to the statement, but the 84-year-old leader has accused Western powers of trying to cripple the economy of his country and its unity of power.
Britain, the former colonial power in Zimbabwe, said the asset freeze moves to restrict the travel of those added to the list "as a result of their involvement in human rights violations and providing financial support for the Mugabe regime. "
"We hope that these measures are causing significant financial and personal difficulties of those," the British Foreign Affairs said in a statement praising the decision. "They point to Mugabe and his regime and its associates alone. Meanwhile, we and the EU partners will continue to provide humanitarian aid to victims of the negligence of Mugabe, the Zimbabwean people."
The European Union also urged Mugabe, who has led South Africa since its independence in 1981, and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, to meet the power-sharing agreement reached last year after the disputed presidential election.
Talks aimed at implementing the agreement broke last week, with each side blaming the other for its failure. Tsvangirai has accused Mugabe of keeping the most powerful portfolios in the government of his ruling party, Mugabe said that while the opposition proposals differed from those established by the 15-nation Southern African Development, which has tried to negotiate a resolution.
The power-sharing deal is expected to maintain the economy of Zimbabwe to a total collapse of merger: The official inflation rate of 231 million percent is the world's worst, and the United Nations estimates that 5 million people need urgent food aid.