Glenys Kinnock (PSE). – Mr President, I, like others, will have to comment on the fact that the Parliament which was duly elected on 29 March in Zimbabwe has never met and its elected members continue to be harassed and intimidated and suffer from violence.

Our resolution calls for a strengthening of sanctions, and of course we will also have to join the calls made at the UN for an international arms embargo and for worldwide travel bans and the freezing of assets.

We know who the additional ringleaders that need to be targeted are, we know who the henchmen are, who the bag carriers are. You have Chihuri, the police chief; Shiri, the Air Force head; Gono, the governor of the central bank; Chinamasa, the Justice Minister; Bonyongwe, the chief of Central Intelligence: these are the people that can and must be targeted. Our resolution clearly reflects the pre-conditions laid down by the MDC.

All talks must be based on the outcome of the 29 March election which the MDC won and not on the sham run-off in June.

It must be a transitional arrangement designed to lead to a new constitution – nobody has mentioned that, and that is what Morgan Tsvangirai is calling for – followed by fresh elections. He says very clearly, and I quote him, ‘I want no power deals and no power sharing’.

As Geoffrey van Orden has said, there are no negotiations going on so we should not take heart from the current situation.

There has to be an additional mediator. Clearly Mr Mbeki is unable to do it alone and we call for an African Union nominee to be put in place. That nominee must be of equal standing with Mr Mbeki and people like Mr Chissano and Mr Kufuor come to mind at this stage.

Finally the unchecked state-sponsored brutality and violence and savagery have to stop, and that is why the international community must act, and act urgently, in the interests of the suffering people of Zimbabwe.