Washington, DC — The United States is to bar the children of some Zimbabwean officials from studying in the United States.
At least five such children are among 38 people whose names will be added to a list of Zimbabweans forbidden to travel to the U.S.
The measure is among a range of stepped-up sanctions announced by Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer at a briefing Monday, held at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC.
Motivating the ban on the students, she said: “They should not benefit from an education here when their parents are denying that education at home.”
She added that in coming days existing financial sanctions will be extended to more individuals "who played a central role in the regime’s escalating human rights abuses." The sanctions will also cover two companies held by complicit individuals.
The values upheld by the United States required that it act "to deny human rights abusers access to our markets, our universities, and our territories," Frazer said.
The U.S. first imposed financial and travel sanctions against a select number of Zimbabweans in March 2003.
The extended sanctions are a response to what Jeffrey Krilla, the deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. Government's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, called “the worst year yet for defenders of human rights and ordinary citizens alike in Zimbabwe.”
The State Department says more than 6,000 human rights abuses have been reported in 2007, with 500 new abuses every month. It says the violations, primarily targeting opposition supporters and students, are increasingly being committed by state-sponsored groups as opposed to thugs or supporters of the ruling Zanu-PF.
Frazer was especially critical of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
“The intent is clear,” she said. “The Mugabe regime has acted to systematically destroy all groups opposing his continued oppressive rule including opposition political parties, civil society, students, private business people and other groups. Mugabe’s tyranny needs to end.”
Frazer also reiterated the importance of Zimbabwe’s neighbors in resolving the crisis.
A mediation process, initiated by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and led by South African President Thabo Mbeki, has been promoting closed-door talks between Zanu-PF and the fragmented opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). So far, however, it has not produced a final agreement on new presidential and parliamentary elections.
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“We commend President Mbeki for his leadership and public commitment to deliver free and fair elections,” Frazer said. “However, to be successful, the rhetoric of any political agreement between the involved parties much be matched by reality on the ground.”
The extended U.S. sanctions were announced just prior to a European Union-African Union Summit in Portugal this weekend. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is boycotting proceedings to protest an invitation to Mugabe to attend the meetings.
Frazer said although the United States does not agree with the decision to invite Mugabe, she hoped the summit would deal with Zimbabwe’s human rights record. “I would hope that the EU and the African countries would make it the central issue of discussion," Frazer said.
