Zimbabwe 'faces new EU sanctions'

Western nations have been considering sanctions against Mr Mugabe

European Union member states will agree on Tuesday to impose tougher sanctions against Zimbabwe, diplomats have said.

They are set to increase the number of officials and businessmen associated with President Robert Mugabe subject to visa bans and financial sanctions.

The EU refused to recognise Mr Mugabe's re-election last month after a run-off in which he was the only candidate.

Meanwhile, a deal on pre-conditions for power-sharing talks is expected, but so far the opposition has not signed it.

"It is not that we are refusing to sign, but that the processes need to be tightened," opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai told South Africa's Star newspaper.

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The African Union has called for a unity government to be formed after Mr Tsvangirai pulled out of the presidential election's second round, amid rising levels of violence against his supporters.

His Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has said that it will only consider going into talks with Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF party on forming a unity government if there is an end to political violence and the release of its supporters from prison.

The MDC says 120 of its supporters have been killed, some 5,000 are missing and more than 200,000 have been forced from their homes since the first round of voting in March.

Businesses targeted

The EU has condemned the apparent state-sanctioned violence carried out against the opposition since the poll, with Mr Solana calling the process a "travesty of democracy".

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The bloc's existing sanctions include an arms embargo, visa bans and the freezing of assets targeting more than 100 individuals, including President Mugabe.

They were first imposed in 2002 in response to his controversial re-election that year and the land redistribution programme, under which white-owned farms were seized.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, EU diplomats in Brussels said there was now an agreement in principle to widen the sanctions against the government and its supporters, including several businesses.

"The aim is to avoid anything which would harm the population," one diplomat told the Reuters news agency.

The measures are set to be formally agreed at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Tuesday.

The UK said last week that it would seek tougher EU sanctions after a resolution to impose UN sanctions on Zimbabwe's leadership was vetoed by Russia and China at the UN Security Council.

Food hampers

Earlier, the Zimbabwean government announced it would distribute cheap food hampers to help people deal with inflation that has surged to 2,200,000%.

Zimbabweans are suffering from chronic shortages in the shops

Basic products, including cooking oil, soap, flour and maize meal, to last a family of six for a month would cost Z$100bn, the current cost of a loaf of bread, the state-run Herald newspaper reported.

Zimbabweans are suffering chronic shortages of meat, maize, fuel and other basic commodities and most shops are empty because of a price-control policy implemented by the government a year ago.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step," central bank governor Gideon Gono said at the launch of the hamper scheme.

"So this is but one step that we have taken as we implement strategies to improve the lives of our people."

The opposition has alleged in the past that food is used as a political tool and chiefs are often aligned to the ruling party.