Zimbabwe will not send a delegation to an African Caribbean Pacific-European Union (ACP-EU) meeting in Germany next week after the German embassy in Harare denied visas to two senior Zimbabwean officials, a statement said Saturday, according to dpa. Forbes Magadu, a senator for President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party, and parliament's principal director for external affairs, Godfrey Chipare, have not been granted visas, said a statement from the clerk of parliament Austin Zvoma. The two were due to travel to Germany to take part in the June 20- 28 ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. Two other members of the Zimbabwean delegation - a ZANU-PF senator and Nelson Chamisa, the spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) - were given visas to travel. Reacting furiously to the visa denials, Zvoma said Zimbabwe would now not take part in the ACP-EU meeting. "The parliament of Zimbabwe categorically rejects attempts by the German authorities to dictate surreptitiously the composition of our delegation to the meetings. Consequently, all delegates are hereby advised that the parliament of Zimbabwe has decided not to send a delegation to these meetings," he said. Relations between Zimbabwe and EU countries, including Germany, have been strained for seven years now, since Mugabe launched his controversial programme of white land seizures and embarked on a clampdown on the opposition, rights groups and the free press. -- SPA
