Gono 'guest of honour' despite US sanctions

Gono 'guest of honour' despite US sanctions

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By Staff Reporter

THE United States has been left with egg on its face after a senior Zimbabwean government official targeted for sanctions became the guest of honour at a March 7 reception in Capitol Hill attended by at least one House Democratic lawmaker, reports said Friday.

The gathering, sponsored in part by the National Black Leadership
Roundtable and the District-based Independence Federal Savings Bank, was held in honor of Gideon Gono, governor of Zimbabwe's central bank.

Gono and Finance Minister Herbert Murerwa were in Washington to attend an IMF executive board meeting. Since they are under travel sanctions, they had only been allowed to do IMF business.

The Washington Times reports that Rep. Diane Watson, California Democrat and member of the House International Relations subcommittee on Africa, was listed as the event's "special guest."

According to the invitation, the reception was held in part to "hear new opportunities for African-American investors" in Zimbabwe's mining, tourism and agricultural-processing sectors.

Gono is on a list of 128 Zimbabwe officials and 33 organisations named in a November 2005 sanctions order by President Bush that was designed
to express disapproval of President Robert Mugabe's record on human rights, democracy and development.

The revelations are a major embarassment to the United States government which gave Murerwa and Gono a special waiver to specifically attend IMF business.

A spokesman for the United States embassy in Harare told New Zimbabwe.com last week that Gono had been given a visa for the "specific trip to the IMF."

The spokesman added: "The sanctions are not against the government or country but individuals who prevent the return of effective government. They (RBZ delegation) are not there for pleasure or tourism. They are there for international business."

The official said Gono's visa restricted his travel to a 25-mile radius from the Washington Monument.

Zimbabwean human rights activists were sharply critical of the event, calling Gono a "linchpin" of the Mugabe regime.

"We were disgusted that a key component of this government should be honored in the very shadow of the Capitol dome," said one regime critic, who declined to be named because of the critic's ongoing work with Congress.

U.S. officials say they were more successful in frustrating the main purpose of Gono's Washington visit last week.

Despite the urgings of Gono and Murerwa, the IMF executive board voted last not to restore Zimbabwe's voting rights or to allow it to obtain new loans until Zimbabwe pays back money owed on other past-due IMF programs.

U.S. policy has long been to isolate the Mugabe government. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice named Zimbabwe as one of six "outposts of tyranny" in her January 2005 Senate confirmation hearing, along with such regimes as North Korea and Iran.

According to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Zimbabwe sanctions include a ban on any business transaction with the named officials and a freeze on assets they have in the United States. Gono, as a "specially designated national," is prohibited from travel to the United States outside of strictly defined official business.

The penalties for violating the order include fines of up to $250,000 for deals with people and up to ten years in prison.

Bert Hammond, a spokesman for Watson, said she attended the March 7 evening event in a Senate conference room because of a "long-standing relationship" with the U.S. organizers.

"She was asked to stop by, and that's about the extent of it," Hammond said. "There was no other motive than to stop by and say hello."

Another aide said on background that Watson supports the sanctions on Zimbabwe and did not discuss substantive issues or business dealings at the Gono event.

The Capitol reception does not appear to violate U.S. sanctions, as long as Gono did not discuss personal business deals. Unlike in Cuba and Iran, U.S. firms are permitted to invest in and trade with Zimbabwean partners.

Treasury Department spokeswoman Molly Millerwise said the Zimbabwe sanctions contain an exemption for travel-related expenses on approved trips.

"For all intents and purposes, attendance at a dinner party during travel that doesn't otherwise involve financial transactions most likely would not fall within the Zimbabwe programs prohibitions," she said.

Although the gathering did not violate U.S. law, the State Department tried to discourage organizers, according to the private Zimbabwe critics - Staff Reporter/Washington Times
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