U.S. sanctions remain until Zimbabwean human rights improve
Following a meeting with Zimbabwean ministers last week, the U.S. state department
yesterday said that Zimbabwe must show greater respect for human rights and political
freedoms before the U.S. sanctions can be removed.
Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe and his inner circle have been subject to Western sanctions since his ZANU-PF
party won an election in 2000 after a violent campaign.
A top U.S. diplomat
for Africa and other U.S. officials met three Zimbabwean ministers on Thursday and
had praised the economic advances but raised concerns "that political progress has
not been as successful” and that as long as human rights violations continue, the
sanctions are unlikely to be removed.
Press officer for the Zimbabwe Vigil,
Dennis Benton, says these sanctions are a propaganda tool for Mugabe.
He told
Vatican Radio “[Mugabe] has been able to use these targeted sanctions to explain the
catastrophic economic situation in Zimbabwe. This is a line that has been widely bought
in Africa and the third world in general.”
“On the other hand,” he says, “the
United States … are unlikely to remove the sanctions unless there are substantial
improvements in the political situation in Zimbabwe.”