Shame On Robert Mugabe

While the G8 summit leaders tried to tackle a host of economic and environmental woes, the Group of Eight rich nations also agreed to impose sanctions against Zimbabwe's leadership because of violence during the widely condemned re-election of self-claimed President Robert Mugabe, the 84-year-old Zimbabwean ruler, who has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980. The G8 leaders added that they did not accept the legitimacy of any government that did not reflect the will of the Zimbabwean people.

The United States and Britain had lobbied for a strong stand at a G8 summit in Japan, after Mugabe was declared winner of a June 27 poll boycotted by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. "We will take further steps, inter alia introducing financial and other measures against those individuals responsible for the violence," the G8 said in statement at its summit in Japan. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said he believed there were enough council members in favor of a U.S.-drafted sanctions resolution, which would impose targeted sanctions on individuals in the government and an arms embargo on Zimbabwe. France's U.N. ambassador, Jean-Maurice Ripert, said he believed there would be enough Security Council votes to pass the sanctions resolution this week.

However, such a resolution could face stiff resistance from China or Russia, each of which has a veto in the Council. Although Russia signed onto the G8 statement, Moscow has expressed misgivings about sanctions, which are also opposed by African nations. Despite warnings from the G8 that investment flows into Africa could suffer if Mugabe was not dealt with, there is little support on the world's poorest continent for sanctions.

South African President Thabo Mbeki and a number of other African heads of state told the summit in Japan that they were against sanctions. Instead, a summit of the pan-African body- divided over what to do about Zimbabwe, adopted a resolution calling for Mugabe to negotiate with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Sources:
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL0860427720080708?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

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