HARARE: The European Union will deploy observers to Zimbabwe's general election expected in July, the first time in 16 years the bloc will monitor polls in the southern African country.
The EU and Zimbabwe's government signed a memorandum on Monday outlining guidelines for election monitors.
Zimbabwe formally invited the EU in March to send an election observation mission.
The elections will be the first since long-time ruler Robert Mugabe was removed from power last November following a brief military take over.
Mugabe's successor President Emmerson Mnangagwa, 75, will be squaring off against Nelson Chamisa, 40, of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
Elections under Mugabe were marred by corruption, intimidation and violence, but Mnangagwa has vowed to hold a free and fair vote.
"EU welcomes the commitment of the government to peaceful, credible, inclusive and transparent elections," Philippe Van Damme, head of the EU delegation in Zimbabwe, said after signing the memorandum with Zimbabwe’s foreign minister Sibusiso Moyo.
The memorandum sets out the rights and obligations of the EU observers.
The new government's "desire to have transparency in the election process (by) inviting different international observers so that they can come and observe our elections... and observe democracy in action," Moyo told journalists after the signing.
The head of the last European Union observer mission, Pierre Schori, was thrown out of Zimbabwe in 2002 on the eve of presidential elections that were condemned as flawed.
In the intervening years the EU did not send missions to other Zimbabwe polls as Mugabe held a firm grip on power until his downfall.
Mnangagwa, who has invited the EU and the Commonwealth among a host of foreign monitors to observe the vote, is a veteran hardliner from the ruling ZANU-PF party and was a long-time ally of Mugabe.
In addition to observing the run-up to the elections and election day itself, the observer mission will also monitor electoral complaints that may be lodged after the elections, the EU mission in Harare said in a statement.
EU to observe Zimbabwe polls for first time in 16 years
EU to observe Zimbabwe polls for first time in 16 years
- Zimbabwe formally invited the EU in March to send an election observation mission
- The EU and Zimbabwe's government signed a memorandum on Monday
Hong Kong plans to buy homes devastated in deadly high-rise fire
HONG KONG: Hong Kong proposes to spend about HK$4 billion ($512 million) to buy out the owners of homes in a high-rise housing complex ravaged by a massive fire that killed more than 160 in November, authorities said on Saturday.
The prices offered will be HK$8,000 per sq. ft. without a land premium payment, and HK$10,500 per sq. ft for those receiving such a payment, officials in the Asian financial hub told a media briefing.
“We believe the proposed price is sufficient for the affected residents to relocate and secure long-term housing,” said Wong Wai-lun, Hong Kong’s deputy financial secretary.
The government also offered an apartment exchange program for the 4,600 affected tenants, who lived in nearly 2,000 housing units at the complex, Wang Fuk Court.
The total outlay, estimated at HK$6.8 billion, will drop by HK$2.8 billion from a contribution by a relief fund, and could go lower still after insurance compensation in factored in, the officials said. ($1=7.8148 Hong Kong dollars)
