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US: UN must address Zim crisis
24/04/2008 19:39 - (SA)
Pretoria - The post election crisis in Zimbabwe should be debated by the United Nations Security Council, US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Jendayi Frazer said on Thursday.
"Given the deterioration in the human rights and security environment, we have a responsibility as the Security Council to address these issues," she told reporters in Pretoria on Thursday.
Frazer is on a visit to southern African countries to consult with regional leaders on Zimbabwe.
"The US is increasingly concerned about the violence and the human rights abuses taking place in Zimbabwe after the elections," she said.
In South Africa she met President Thabo Mbeki's top envoy to Zimbabwe, Provincial and Local Affairs Minister Sydney Mufamadi, and with Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Sue van der Merwe.
Frazer was also scheduled to meet MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai before heading to Angola and Zambia.
Union hailed
She hailed the action of South African union members who refused to offload a Chinese ship in the Durban harbour which carried an arms shipment to Zimbabwe.
"When they refused to offload that ship they created a leadership moment that all the rest of us were able to follow," Frazer said.
China's Foreign Affairs department on Thursday confirmed that the ship was returning to China after other countries also indicated that they would not be able to offload it.
Frazer said the possibility of an arms embargo should now be discussed by the Security Council.
"I think the debate itself would send a great warning to others who would think about sending arms into Zimbabwe today, including the Chinese, so there is value in even having the debate," she said.
Frazer welcomed the tough stance of the ANC on the situation in Zimbabwe, saying the party was in a unique position to communicate with President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF.
Credit for Mbeki
She would not be drawn on Mbeki's renewed mandate as mediator, saying credit must be given to him for the reasonably peaceful run-up to, and the election itself.
"The problem today is how do you address the post election crisis and there we believe we all have a mandate," she said
The US believed that Tsvangirai had clearly won the election and said it "doubts the credibility" of the results that will be announced due to a delay.
Frazer said the conditions in Zimbabwe were not conducive to a run-off election.
"We feel the political space in Zimbabwe as closed and that makes it difficult for any notion of a run-off if we had results that suggested there should be a run-off.
"Three weeks after the election we now doubt the credibility of any results that will be released," she said.
Foreign affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa on Thursday confirmed the meeting between Frazer, Mufamadi and Van der Merwe, saying it took place in the context of South Africa's role as facilitator of talks between Zimbabwe's main political parties, the MDC and Zanu-PF.
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