Russia, China veto UN sanctions on Zimbabwe

[The Smoking Man]

Russia, China veto UN sanctions on Zimbabwe

by Gerard Aziakou
1 hour, 29 minutes ago

China and Russia on Friday blocked a US draft resolution in the UN Security Council that would have slapped sanctions on Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe over his disputed re-election.

The Chinese and Russian envoys joined their colleagues from South Africa, Libya and Vietnam in opposing the draft which would have imposed an assets freeze and a travel ban on Mugabe and 13 of his cronies, as well as an arms embargo. Indonesia abstained.

It was the first double veto by Russia and China since January 2007 when they vetoed a draft resolution in the 15-member council that would have urged Burma to ease repression and release political prisoners.

Voting in favor in Friday's vote were the United States, Britain, France, Burkina Faso, Belgium, Costa Rica, Italy, Panama and Croatia.

The sponsors said the sanctions were needed to put pressure on Mugabe to stop the violence against his political foes and enhance prospects of democratic rule through a power sharing deal with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Opponents argued that passage of the text would undermine ongoing South African-mediated negotiations between Zimbabwe's ruling party and its opposition and would have run counter to the wishes of African Union leaders at their summit in Egypt earlier this month.

They also said Zimbabwe's political crisis did not amount to a threat to regional or international peace and security and said adopting the sanctions would have amounted to interference in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state.

Britain's UN Ambassador John Sawers, whose country is Zimbabwe's former colonial ruler, said the 15-member "missed the opportunity to impose a legal obligation on Mr Mugabe's government to end the violence and intimidation which have scarred Zimbabwe."

"We have missed the opportunity to back up South Africa's mediation efforts with something more than words," he added.

He said the sponsors would have to look "for further opportunities both here and elsewhere" to assist the struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe.

His US counterpart Zalmay Khalilzad said he wad "disappointed by the Russian and Chinese vetoes.

The "U-turn" in the Russian position was particularly "disturbing" and raises questions about Moscow's "reliability as a G8 partner," he added.

Khalilzad said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev earlier this week supported a G8 statement at a summit in Japan that promised new actions, including targeted "financial measures" against Mugabe and his cronies.

The US envoy also had some harsh words for South Africa, accusing its President Thabo Mbeki of protecting Mugabe.

Khalilzad said this was a "source of disappointment, given the history of South Africa."

French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert told reporters that Friday's vote was "a failure for the Security Council."

"We think some sanctions should have been added to get the people responsible for the violence to change their attitude," he said. "We regret what has happened."

His Chinese counterpart Wang Guangya said adopting the sanctions would have been "counterproductive" and would have undermined the South African-mediated talks between the rival Zimbabwean parties.

"We support the efforts by the African Union and President Mbeki to bring all the parties together," he added.

Zimbabwe's UN Ambassador Boniface Chidyausiku expressed gratitude to those council members who voted against the sanctions.

"Putting more sanctions on Zimbabwe would not have helped the people of Zimbabwe," he added.

The vote came as Zimbabwe's ZANU-PF ruling party and opposition Movement for Democratic Change held a second day of talks in South Africa.

The talks, aimed at laying the groundwork for fully fledged negotiations to resolve Zimbabwe's political crisis, were the first since Mugabe won a new term as president in a June 27 poll widely denounced as a sham.

The US draft would have demanded that the Harare government "begin without delay a substantive dialogue between the parties with the aim of arriving at a peaceful solution that reflects the will of the Zimbabwean people as expressed by the March 29 (first-round presidential) elections."

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai won that first round but fell short of a majority. He pulled out of the run-off citing a campaign of violence and intimidation.

[Art]

Seems they don't want to lose a good customer for their arms manufacturers. Pricks!!

[The Smoking Man]

Seems they don't want to lose a good customer for their arms manufacturers. Pricks!!

Capitalism at its finest ... "The customer is always right."

[The Smoking Man]

Failing Zimbabwe

The brutality with which Robert Mugabe stole Zimbabwe’s elections last month embarrassed even his usual friends, allies and enablers. Unfortunately, it has not embarrassed them enough. Unless Russia, China and South Africa can be shamed into bringing real pressure against Mr. Mugabe and his henchmen, quickly, he will settle in for another term of disastrous misrule.

Talks now likely to begin in South Africa this week between Mr. Mugabe’s party and that of Morgan Tsvangirai, the first-round election winner, may be the best way to prevent that, provided they, unlike past efforts, are not conducted on the dictator’s chosen terms.

It’s a promising sign that other African leaders have persuaded South Africa’s president, Thabo Mbeki, Mr. Mugabe’s chief international enabler, to bring additional, more impartial members onto his mediation team.

Success is far from certain. Sustained international pressure will be needed to assure an acceptable outcome — either an internationally supervised rerun of the election or a negotiated transition leading to Mr. Mugabe’s swift departure and Mr. Tsvangirai’s inauguration.

Mr. Mugabe is a master at fanning racial resentments and blaming the West for his many failures. African leaders, who have been far too tolerant of Mr. Mugabe for far too long, will now have to press both Mr. Mugabe and Mr. Mbeki for a fair and swift resolution.

The Bush administration must also keep pushing for action in the Security Council. Most Council members voted for an American-drafted resolution that would have imposed an arms embargo and tough sanctions against Mr. Mugabe’s top henchmen, only to see Moscow and Beijing cast completely unjustified vetoes.

It should press ahead with its own escalating bilateral penalties, encouraging others (in Europe, Africa and elsewhere) to do the same.

And, if the South African talks fail, it should encourage all countries to recognize Mr. Tsvangirai as head of a legitimate government in exile.

President Bush went out of his way at the Group of Eight summit meetings to praise Russia’s new president, Dmitri Medvedev, and has granted China one of its fondest wishes by agreeing to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. Russia and China still vetoed the American-backed resolution aimed at prying Mr. Mugabe’s most essential collaborators away from his destructive cause.

One can say that both countries’ willingness to ambush the American administration is just one of the wages of Mr. Bush’s failed foreign policy. But on Zimbabwe Mr. Bush is right, and he must keep pressing Russia, China, Europe and Africa to do what is right.

Nearly 30 years ago, the world demanded an end to political terror and the establishment of majority rule in Zimbabwe. Russia, China and South Africa’s then-outlawed African National Congress all played key roles in that fight.

Where are they now when Robert Mugabe has decided to defy the majority rule that first brought him to power and rely on political terror to impose himself as dictator-for-life? If they can’t recognize that they have now shamefully betrayed Zimbabwe’s people, President Bush and the rest of the world need to remind them.

[Drive By]

Exposed: Mugabe's secret flights
Russell Skelton
July 22, 2008
Page 1 of 2 | Single Page View
ZIMBABWE is using Australian air space to ferry to China high-ranking military officials and war veterans, some responsible for political thuggery and violent disruption of elections under Robert Mugabe's repressive regime.

Flights from Harare, also carrying tonnes of illicit goods including ivory, gold and diamonds, pass directly through Australian air space en route to Singapore before touching down in Beijing and southern China.

The Age has been told that in the past 12 months the flights, which are scheduled to depart on Mondays and Fridays, are regularly commandeered by President Mugabe and his "palace cronies" for junkets and holidays, leaving business passengers stranded at Harare airport.

Zimbabwe aviation sources said a recent flight carried 15 tonnes of unidentified "palace cargo" to Beijing to be exchanged for weapons and luxury items.

Canada has banned aircraft registered in Zimbabwe from landing in or flying over its territory after the violence in Zimbabwe's June 27 election. But a spokesman for Foreign Minister Stephen Smith yesterday declined to say what Australia's position was on the flights.

The Age believes that the opposition party of Morgan Tsvangirai is bewildered by Australia's failure to ban Air Zimbabwe from Australian air space - in line with the ban announced by Canada last month. Canada has also restricted travel, work and study by senior Zimbabwean government, military and police officials and their families. It is believed the Boeing 767-200 passenger aircraft are guided through Australia air space over the Indian Ocean - Australia has responsibility for almost a third of the ocean's air space - by traffic controllers based in Brisbane.

Government sources said that Canberra had the power to refuse the flights access to the air space.

Zimbabwe aviation sources said the China flights were a political lifeline for President Mugabe and his Government, which faces growing international condemnation from Europe and the US.
The sources claimed the country's wealth was being freely exchanged in China for luxury items and fittings for the $15 million presidential palace.

"You often see 'war veterans' on these flights, they are being rewarded for their thuggery with free junkets to China," a flight engineer said. "When the flights arrive back in Zimbabwe they are escorted to a secured part of the airport and unloaded by trusted palace staff. They are often crammed with plasma televisions and luxury goods that people can only dream about."

China has been steadily spreading its influence in central Africa in a bid to gain access to energy and food resources for its rapidly expanding economy and work force. It has built a massive diplomatic complex in Rwanda's capital of Kigali and provides the Mugabe regime with technical assistance.

Another Zimbabwe flight engineer, who also asked not to be identified for personal safety concerns, described the Beijing flights as highly hazardous because safety requirements and mandatory rest breaks for flight crews were regularly ignored. "There is non-stop smoking. Flight engineers are not properly rested, yet if something goes wrong, they are the ones responsible for fixing it."

[Drive By]

http://www.theage.com.au/world/exodus-on-main-street-chinas-cleanup-begins-20080721-3irj.html

[shan]

HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- Zimbabwe's troubled central bank introduced $100 billion banknotes Saturday in a desperate bid to ease the recurrent cash shortages plaguing the inflation-ravaged economy.


The bills officially come into circulation Monday, although they were on the foreign currency dealers market Saturday.

As high as they are, though, the bills still aren't enough to buy a loaf of bread. They can buy only four oranges.

The new note is equal to just one U.S. dollar.

Once-prosperous Zimbabwe has seen an unprecedented economic meltdown since it gained independence in 1980, with the official inflation rate now at 2.2 million percent.

Gideon Gono, governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, said the new notes are for "the convenience of the banking public and corporate sector" in light of price hikes.

"The RBZ has noted with concern the unjustifiable and incessant general increases in prices of goods and services. It is therefore appealing to the business community to follow ethical business practices as well as take an interest in the plight of the general public," Gono said in a statement dated Friday.


Zimbabwe started issuing large bank notes in December, starting with denominations of $250,000.

In January, the government issued bills in denominations of $1 million, $5 million, and $10 million -- and in May, it issued bills from $25 million and $50 million up to $25 billion and $50 billion.

The new bills are actually bearer checks and have an expiration date of December 31. Zimbabwe has not had formal currency since the introduction of bearer checks as a temporary measure in 2003.

"The RBZ is fighting a losing battle," economist John Robertson said in Harare. "As long as the inflation remains high, cash shortages will persist. There is need to address the inflation by increasing production so that too goods do not [cost] a lot of money

[shan]

Next time they need to drive a trunk of bills to go to the food market

[The Smoking Man]

Yeah and some smuggle Ivory to China ... Lot's of money there apparently.

Ask the elephants what they keep in THEIR trunks ... when they're dead.

Exposed: Mugabe's secret flights

    * Russell Skelton
    * July 22, 2008

ZIMBABWE is using Australian air space to ferry to China high-ranking military officials and war veterans, some responsible for political thuggery and violent disruption of elections under Robert Mugabe's repressive regime.

Flights from Harare, also carrying tonnes of illicit goods including ivory, gold and diamonds, pass directly through Australian air space en route to Singapore before touching down in Beijing and southern China.

The Age has been told that in the past 12 months the flights, which are scheduled to depart on Mondays and Fridays, are regularly commandeered by President Mugabe and his "palace cronies" for junkets and holidays, leaving business passengers stranded at Harare airport.

Zimbabwe aviation sources said a recent flight carried 15 tonnes of unidentified "palace cargo" to Beijing to be exchanged for weapons and luxury items.

Canada has banned aircraft registered in Zimbabwe from landing in or flying over its territory after the violence in Zimbabwe's June 27 election. But a spokesman for Foreign Minister Stephen Smith yesterday declined to say what Australia's position was on the flights.

The Age believes that the opposition party of Morgan Tsvangirai is bewildered by Australia's failure to ban Air Zimbabwe from Australian air space - in line with the ban announced by Canada last month. Canada has also restricted travel, work and study by senior Zimbabwean government, military and police officials and their families. It is believed the Boeing 767-200 passenger aircraft are guided through Australia air space over the Indian Ocean - Australia has responsibility for almost a third of the ocean's air space - by traffic controllers based in Brisbane.

Government sources said that Canberra had the power to refuse the flights access to the air space.

Zimbabwe aviation sources said the China flights were a political lifeline for President Mugabe and his Government, which faces growing international condemnation from Europe and the US.

The sources claimed the country's wealth was being freely exchanged in China for luxury items and fittings for the $15 million presidential palace.

"You often see 'war veterans' on these flights, they are being rewarded for their thuggery with free junkets to China," a flight engineer said. "When the flights arrive back in Zimbabwe they are escorted to a secured part of the airport and unloaded by trusted palace staff. They are often crammed with plasma televisions and luxury goods that people can only dream about."

China has been steadily spreading its influence in central Africa in a bid to gain access to energy and food resources for its rapidly expanding economy and work force. It has built a massive diplomatic complex in Rwanda's capital of Kigali and provides the Mugabe regime with technical assistance.

Another Zimbabwe flight engineer, who also asked not to be identified for personal safety concerns, described the Beijing flights as highly hazardous because safety requirements and mandatory rest breaks for flight crews were regularly ignored. "There is non-stop smoking. Flight engineers are not properly rested, yet if something goes wrong, they are the ones responsible for fixing it."