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Russia, China veto U.N. sanctions against Zimbabwe

— PHOTO: AFP

British Permanent Representative to the U.N. John Sawers (left) and his U.S. counterpart Zalmay Khalilzad vote during a meeting of the Security Council at the U.N. on Friday.

UNITED NATIONS: Russia and China vetoed proposed sanctions on Zimbabwe’s leaders on Friday, rejecting U.S. efforts to step up punitive measures against President Robert Mugabe’s regime after a widely discredited presidential election.

Western powers mustered nine votes, the minimum needed to gain approval in the 15-nation council. But the resolution pushed by the Bush administration failed because of the action by two of the five veto-wielding permanent members. The other three nations with veto power — the U.S., Britain and France — argued sanctions were needed to respond to the government-sanctioned violence and intimidation against opponents of Mr. Mugabe before and after Zimbabwe’s recent presidential election.

Zimbabwe’s opposition party reported on Friday that at least 113 of its members have been killed in violence since March.

The proposal would have imposed an arms embargo and an international travel ban, and a freeze on the personal assets of Mr. Mugabe and 13 other officials. It also called for a U.N. special envoy for Zimbabwe to be appointed. In addition to dodging sanctions, Mr. Mugabe “will be coming” to the U.N. General Assembly in September, said Zimbabwean U.N. Ambassador Boniface Chidyausiku.

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said sanctions would have taken the U.N. beyond its mandate by having it interfere in a country’s domestic political disputes and “artificially elevating them to the level of a threat” to international peace and security. Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya, whose nation is one of Zimbabwe’s major trading partners, also expressed fears of nation-tinkering and said Zimbabwe should be left to conduct its own talks on how to resolve its political crisis.

“The development of the situation in Zimbabwe until now has not exceeded the context of domestic affairs,” said Mr. Wang. “It will unavoidably interfere with the negotiation process,” he added. — AP

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