The lithium trap: Western nations haunted by sanct...

The lithium trap: Western nations haunted by sanctions on Zimbabwe

**EU Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Jobst von Kirchmann**

Zim Now Writers

A disjointed approach and a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand intended has left western nations in a fix over their own imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe.

“The pragmatic powers in the west have realised that it is in their interest to befriend the government of the day in Zimbabwe. But the election observer mission has scuttled all the efforts and taken us back to square one,” a worker at the embassy of European Union nation told Zim Now.

The source said the Western nations need to find a graceful way to move out the corner that they painted themselves in after declaring sanctions on Zimbabwe because of Zimbabwe’s lithium reserves.

“The worry is the influence of China on a key resource. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has shown the European powers the importance of access to energy sources. So the west needs access to Zimbabwe’s lithium reserves,” the source said.

Sanctions, they wrote

The EU sanctions on Zimbabwe were first imposed in 2002, by Common Position 2002/145/CFSP and have remained in place since.

The US imposed sanctions through the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA) of 2001, which was amended with a view to further tightening its provisions in 2018.

This was on the back of Zimbabwe’s land reform in which white farmers were removed by blacks demanding back the land that had been taken from them under colonialism.

Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government has since committed to compensating the white farmers although actual payment has not been made.

The reason for sanctions has since moved to elections and perceived suppression of western backed activists groups through instruments such as the topical PVO Bill and the addition of the Patriotic clause to the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Amendment Bill, 2022.

Separating walk and talk?

The source said the EU and US have already started inveigling themselves into the Zimbabwean economy in practical ways that are divergent from their sanctions rhetoric.

A study carried out by Chipo Dendere and published by Carnegie Europe established that western nations have significantly cut funding to Zimbabwe human rights groups. This is the primary source of true and fake news that the west uses to justify sanctions on Zimbabwe.

Some parties also claim that the US pulled the plug on its reported clandestine and illegal funding for Nelson Chamisa’s Citizens for Coalition Change, which is the successor of the white funded Movement for Democratic Change, created to counter land reform.

In November 2022, the EU announced a €47 million for government public health programmes with US5 million put towards the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission for the August 23 general elections mandate.

The US invited Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Ambassador Frederick Shava to the US-Africa Summit in Washington held in December 2023.

The Zimbabwe Investment announced that it 116 licences in the first quarter of 2023 with a potential investment value of US$761 million.

Of that amount the US accounted for US$164.5m, second to China at US$295.48m.

ZIDA also reported that five US companies had applied for lithium mining licenses in the period.

Westerners add voice to sanctions repeal

One of the few westerners who have managed to get into the Zimbabwean lithium rush, Premier African Minerals CEO George Roach told The Africa Report that western countries need to get out of the sanctions bully mode.

“Sanctions versus Zimbabwe should be done away with,” said Roach. “They don’t have any place in a peaceful environment. Let’s stop punishing people,” Roach said.

Premier African Minerals owns Zimbabwe’s Zulu lithium project.

“Sanctions have failed. Instead of stalling the economy of Zimbabwe by refusing to do business, it is time to try investing in both the people and the resources found there. A strong economic partnership with Zimbabwe could hold the key to both influencing the government on human rights issues and addressing the raw material demands of a new, greener global economy,” argued Glenn heads Humless CEO, Glenn Jakins in an opinion piece on geopolitics.

There are more western voices including political players adding their voices to the narrative that sanctions against Zimbabwe have failed and it is time for the western nations to go back to the drawing board.

Catch 22

During the 2023 Zimbabwe International Trade Fair EU ambassador to Zimbabwe Jobst von Kirchmann said there is room to improve on the current trade volume of US$700m.”The trade agreement we have is underused; there is room for more investment and l think that's also what Zimbabwe wants I hear, we are open for business and there is a lot in the National Development Strategy 1,” von Kirchmann said.

He practically indicated that Zimbabwe needed to allow the EU to save face:
“As the EU, we would like Zimbabwe to succeed in that ambition…when I ask companies in Europe, I must say there is still a negative perception about Zimbabwe, which I think is important to work on,” he said.

von Kirchmann expressed his hope for a free and fair election as the route towards that desired image clean up in the eyes of the west.

But with the election turned into a debacle which saw the EU observer mission fire fighting the perception that it had come on a mission to discredit the process within a few days of setting up in the country.

The EU has since been implicated as the architects of the Nevers Mumba Southern African Development Committee adverse election observer report which to all intents and purposes SADC has rejected as unwarranted manipulation,

The EU has announced its intention to withdraw its financial support for ZEC, a move seen as entrenching of the sanctions. The US also produced a scathing report of Zimbabwean elections, effectively slamming the door on removing sanctions.

The partners in international geopolitics are now stuck in the same tight corner: they want access to Zimbabwe’s lithium but cannot figure out how to do so with a Zanu PF led Harare.

The punch line?

The source said all stakeholders in the EU and the US have to see the big picture fast or risk being the butt of a very expensive joke.

“The major worry now is that with each day we take a hard line stance against Zimbabwe, we are at risk of losing it. What if Zimbabwe’s economic trajectory continues upwards? It will really make it clear that the sanctions are redundant and we will have lost out on one of the most significant lithium resources in the world,” he said.