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US prepares Zim sanctions draft
01/07/2008 08:36 - (SA)
New York - The United States has prepared a draft text on United Nations sanctions against Zimbabwe that will ban arms sales and freeze assets of specific individuals and firms after last week's widely condemned election.
But council diplomats said it would be difficult to persuade South Africa, Russia, China and other UN Security Council members to accept a sanctions resolution against Zimbabwe.
The seven-page text, titled "Draft Elements for a Chapter VII Sanctions Resolution" and obtained in full by Reuters on Monday, said the council would not recognise Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's June 27 re-election and would impose an embargo on sales of arms or military hardware to Harare.
It asked the council to freeze the assets of and ban travel for anyone who helped the government "undermine democratic processes" or supported politically-motivated violence.
Beating, violence, torture
The legally binding resolution would have the council "expressing deep concern at the gross irregularities during the June 27 run-off presidential election (and) the violence and intimidation perpetrated in the run-up to the election that made impossible the holding of free and fair elections".
It also had the 15-nation council "condemning the continued beating, violence and torture of civilians, sexual violence, and the displacement of thousands of Zimbabweans, many of whom had been driven to take refuge in neighbouring countries".
The draft text condemns the "intimidation and violence directed against supporters of the opposition political party, as well as the detention of its leaders". It also demanded that the government cooperate with "non-partisan investigations of the political violence" between March and June 2008.
US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters he would probably circulate the draft to the full council this week.
One-candidate election
The Security Council was deeply divided on the issue of Zimbabwe and council diplomats said that South Africa, which opposed the idea of sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's government, had the backing of two powerful veto-wielding council members - Russia and China.
Elected Security Council members Indonesia and Vietnam, which usually preferred to avoid intervening in what they saw as other countries' internal affairs, also appeared to be supporting the South Africans, diplomats said.
Khalilzad said the "credibility of the council is at stake" because of its statement a week ago that condemned the violence and restrictions on the opposition because they made a free and fair election impossible.
"We spoke loudly and clearly, made demands that were ignored," he told reporters. "If we do nothing, if there is no response, what does that say about the council?"
Mugabe went to an African Union summit in Egypt on Monday after being re-elected in a one-candidate election that was condemned by regional monitors and many world leaders.
- Reuters
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