Bush extends sanctions on Zimbabwe

Bush extends sanctions on Zimbabwe

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By Staff Reporter

AMERICAN President George W. Bush has extended U.S. targeted sanctions against officials in Zimbabwe's government, including President Robert Mugabe.

In a notice to Congress Thursday cited by the Voice of America, Bush said he was extending the sanctions for one year, until March 6, 2008.

Only last week, the European Union also extended its targeted sanctions on Mugabe and 96 of his loyalists. The sanctions include a travel ban to the European Union and an asset freeze.

Bush imposed the sanctions in March 2003 amid charges of human rights abuses against President Robert Mugabe's regime. The United States refused to recognise the outcome of the 2002 presidential elections won by Mugabe, saying they were flawed and alleging widespread violence against opposition supporters.

U.S. officials have also strongly criticised Mugabe and his supporters for pushing white farmers off their land since 2000.

The U.S. sanctions apply to more than 75 Zimbabwean officials, among them the president, Vice President Joice Mujuru, and members of the cabinet.

The order freezes any U.S. assets the individuals might have and prohibits Americans from conducting any financial transactions with them.

Mugabe alleges a plot by Britain and America to unseat him and replace him with their "puppets". Mugabe's officials are keen to point out that the sanctions are ineffective.

"Sanctions or no sanctions, it is not going to make any difference at all," junior information minister Bright Matonga said last week after the EU extended sanctions.

"It is the same old story, we have had sanctions for the past five years. They can extend the sanctions whenever. We do not give a damn actually."

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