Switzerland bans Zimbabwe officials

Switzerland bans Zimbabwe officials

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By Staff Reporter

SWITZERLAND on Tuesday increased to 126 the number of prominent Zimbabweans who face travel and finance restrictions, effective immediately, officials said.

Most of the 33 people added to the list are cabinet ministers and provincial governors, said a statement from the Swiss economics ministry. The increase is in line with recent decisions of the European Union (EU).

Switzerland followed the EU in imposing sanctions on the government of President Robert Mugabe in 2002 after international outrage over allegedly rigged elections.

Switzerland remains outside the 25-nation bloc, but often co-ordinates its policies with the EU. The United States also has imposed its own measures.

Swiss authorities have frozen a single bank account linked to the Mugabe regime under the sanctions. It contains about $10 000, officials said.

Mugabe, 81, has ruled Zimbabwe since it won independence from Britain in 1980.

As his popularity has waned, he has attacked journalists and opponents.
His supporters have been blamed for helping plunge the country into political and economic crisis.

The EU measures include a ban on Mugabe and other government officials from travelling to EU countries, but members of the European Parliament have criticised the restrictions as poorly enforced, noting that French President Jacques Chirac hosted Mugabe in a visit to Paris in 2003, despite the travel ban.
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