Categories

Mbeki rules out sanctions for Zimbabwe

WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.

Original Post Date: 2001-08-29 Time: 03:45:08  Posted By: Jan

12/08/2001

President Thabo Mbeki has rejected calls to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe and
will continue “quiet diplomacy” despite an admission such an approach has
failed to stem Zimbabwe’s crisis. Mbeki was responding to calls by the
Democratic Alliance for South Africa to impose sanctions against Zimbabwe for
a violent state-sponsored grab of white-owned farms and attacks on the press,
opposition and judiciary.

“The view of the president and the presidency is that it is out of the
question to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe. It is not in the best interests of
Zimbabwe or the region,” Bheki Khumalo, the presidential spokesperson, said.

Mbeki believes sanctions would worsen situation in Zimbabwe
Mbeki’s response comes ahead of a Southern African Development Community
(SADC) summit in Malawi, which will discuss Zimbabwe’s political and
financial crisis among other things. Mbeki has said before that he believes
sanctions would only worsen Zimbabwe’s volatile situation, which has seen a
government programme to forcibly redistribute white-owned farms to poor
blacks, and hurt investor confidence across the region.

Mbeki conceded on Monday that his efforts to halt the economic collapse of
Zimbabwe through dialogue had so far failed, but Khumalo said South Africa
would stick to this route.

“We find it is better to have continuous engagement with the Zimbabwean
government and we will continue talking until solutions have been found to
the situation there,” Khumalo said.

Mbeki has been criticised at home and abroad for his so-called “quiet
diplomacy” in the face of escalating civil unrest and a crumbling economy in
Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is undergoing its worst economic crisis since independence
in 1980, as the land grab provides the backdrop to a chronic shortage of hard
currency and fuel.

Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean President, yesterday said that sanctions would
not deter his controversial land reform drive. The US Senate last week
approved and passed on to Congress the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic
Recovery Act, threatening targeted sanctions unless Zimbabwe ends attacks on
the opposition and protects the media and the judiciary. – Reuters