Britain is preparing to re-impose sanctions on the wife of Zimbabwe’s former dictator Robert Mugabe at the end of the year after the government disagreed with a European Union decision to ease restrictions on her finances.
It suspended an order freezing assets of Grace Mugabe, 54, following an EU decision earlier this week.
It comes months after the death of Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s former President, at the age of 95.
The UK exited the EU at the end of January but is required to follow the bloc’s sanctions decisions until the transition period expires at the end of the year.
But a rift has opened up between the UK and the EU over the decision.
The threat to reinstate restrictions on Mugabe’s financial dealings is the clearest indication yet that the UK could change its approach to dealing with human rights abuses by overseas individuals when the Brexit transition period ends on Dec 31.
A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “We did not agree with the EU’s decision to suspend these sanctions on Grace Mugabe. At the end of the transition period we will review it.”
Mugabe led Zimbabwe for 37 years before a military coup in 2017.
Grace Mugabe, nicknamed “Gucci Grace” for her lavish lifestyle, married the authoritarian leader in 1996.-Sunday Telegraph
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