Air Zimbabwe targeted in Canadian sanctions

Air Zimbabwe targeted in Canadian sanctions

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ZIMBABWE’S national airline Air Zimbabwe will be banned from using Canadian airspace under new sanctions announced by that country on Friday.

Canadian officials claimed the sanctions were “targeted” against President Robert Mugabe and his senior officials.

The Canadian sanctions top-up other sanctions measures imposed by the European Union, the United States and Australia on Zimbabwe.

Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson charged that since the African country's discredited presidential election in March and the runoff in June, Mugabe's government has made no effort to promote democratic rule.

"Despite efforts by international mediators, and despite calls by the international community to return democracy to Zimbabwe, the government has shown itself unwilling to negotiate in good faith, and uninterested in meaningful reform," Emerson said in a statement.

Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was first in a field of four in the first round of presidential voting in March, but did not win by the margin necessary to avoid a runoff against second-place finisher Mugabe. Tsvangirai withdrew from the June 27 runoff because of attacks on his supporters blamed on Mugabe's party militants and security forces.

Mugabe held the runoff, and was declared the overwhelming winner, though the exercise was widely denounced as a sham.

The 84-year-old Zimbabwean leader, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, says both his party and the MDC “have acknowledged culpability in the violence”.

Canada announced initial sanctions in June following the runoff, mainly restricting travel, work and study of senior members of Zimbabwe's government within Canada.

Emerson said the measures announced Friday "go further toward isolating and maintaining pressure on key members of the Zimbabwe regime."

Canada is banning arms exports, freezing the assets of top Zimbabwean officials and banning Zimbabwean aircraft from flying over or landing in Canada.

The ban on civilian aircraft will raise questions about Canada's claim that the measures are targeted at punishing Mugabe and his supporters. Currently, Air Zimbabwe does not use Canadian airspace, the airline's Europe and America Regional Manager, David Mwenga said.

Canada's further pressure tactics follow those of the United States and Europe Union, both of which announced expanded sanctions against the regime in July.

The U.S., along with Britain and France, spearheaded a U.N. Security Council drive in July for sanctions, but the initiative was vetoed by Russia and China.

South Africa and other African Union members are pressing Tsvangirai to accept a power-sharing deal. African leaders see a unity government as the way to avert the further spread of violence and total economic collapse in Zimbabwe, which has the world's highest inflation rate and chronic food and fuel shortages. - Staff Reporter/AP

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