Mugabe left reviled and alone: after Mugabe expelled the European Union's lead election monitor, the remaining monitors are pulling out and the EU has imposed sanctions on Mugabe and his associates. The U.S. is expected to follow suit. The sanctions include travel restrictions to participating countries and a freeze on assets held in those countries.
See also: Zimbabwe on the brink
It was never going to be an easy decision. When European Union (EU) foreign ministers decided on Monday February 18th to withdraw the EU's election monitors from Zimbabwe and impose sanctions on the country, it was with a heavy heart. All attempts to restrain Robert Mugabe seem to have failed. The country's 77-year-old president is determined to rig presidential elections next month in order to cling on to power after 22 years in office, and has brushed aside foreign criticisms of his bullying and intimidation of the main opposition party and his increasingly repressive policies, which have brought his country to the brink of economic ruin. And yet the EU decision, coming after months of warnings and threats, though understandable, may on balance still prove to be the wrong one.
