PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa and his top lieutenants in the military have been left out of the European Union (EU)’s latest sanctions list despite widespread calls for their censure over the army’s recent brutal crackdown on civilian protesters.

The EU imposed sanctions against former President Robert Mugabe’s government in 2000 and has since then maintained the restrictive measures, although gradually relaxing them to allow for implementation of political and economic reforms by the Zanu PF regime.

On Monday, the EU head of policy, Federica Mogherini said the bloc’s Foreign Affairs ministers decided not to add fresh names to the sanctions list, but kept Mugabe and his wife, Grace on the list as well as the Zimbabwe Defence Industries.