President Barack Obama is extending sanctions against a range of Zimbabwean leaders whom the United States accuses of undermining democracy in the country.
In a notice released by the White House in Washington DC, Obama said the leaders’ actions had “contributed to the deliberate breakdown in the rule of law in Zimbabwe, to politically motivated violence and intimidation, and to political and economic instability in the southern African region.”
He re-imposed for one year sanctions first introduced by former President George W. Bush. He cited Bush’s justification that the leaders posed an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy of the United States.”
President Obama's statement on Wednesday comes on the heels of Prime Minster Morgan Tsvangirai's first address to parliament, in which he called on the West to lift sanctions.
President Bush first imposed restrictions on Zimbabwean leaders in 2003, and expanded them in 2005 and in July last year, when he refused to accept Zimbabwe's national elections as democratic.
It has taken almost a year since that election for Zimbabwe to form a unity government. The country faces a widespread health, humanitarian and economic crisis.
In a news conference last month, Tsvangirai said Zimbabwe might need up to U.S.$5 billion for reconstruction.
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OK! So this is after their blue-eyed boy Morgan Tsvangirai joins the government as a Prime Minister, asks the international community to lift all punitive measures and this Barack acts like a white person? I thought Barack said that he would engange in talks with all people. Anyway, I hope it is a lesson for all that the West does not give a damn about Africans unless their interests are at stake.
Its still to be seen whether the appointment of Tsvangirai as PM is anything more than a token jesture. Mugabe still holds all he power, so what has changed? The sanctions on the people of Zim are in place until democratic values are established in Zimbabwe. Mugabe lost the election, and still has all the power. Thats not democracy, thats dictatorship.
INDIE, so you finally admit that there are sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe . Why did you have to lie in the past ? Thanks for your HONESTY - there is hope for you after all !
Steady on there mate, a mere typo.... the only sanctions Zimbabwe are against the leaders and a few companies.
Didn't look like a typo to me. You were pretty clear when you said "The sanctions on the people of Zim."
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