By Staff Reporter

THE United States government has added into its targeted sanctions list, Zimbabwe’s State Security Minister Owen Ncube, rubbing salt into the wounds of a Zanu PF led administration which staged mass demonstrations Friday calling for the unconditional scrapping of the Western embargo.

The defiant US stance was revealed by United States of America Secretary of State Michael Richard Pompeo.

Pompeo said in a statement that Washington was troubled by the “Zimbabwean government’s use of state-sanctioned violence against” protesters, opposition leaders and labour leaders.

“Today, I publicly designated Owen Ncube for his involvement in a gross violation of Human Rights in Zimbabwe. State-sanctioned violence in Zimbabwe must end now and those responsible for human rights violations must be held accountable,” said Pompeo via Twitter.

A close ally to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Ncube has plunged headlong into the controversy surrounding fresh rights abuses under the new Zimbabwe regime.

The government official was central to the State clampdown of civilians in the fateful January protests in which security forces killed 17 Zimbabweans they accused of taking part in violent anti-government protests sparked by national shutdown calls by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and other citizen movement groups.

Ncube ordered the blackout of the internet, plunging the entire country into a communication freeze.

Lately, Zimbabwe state agents have been accused of orchestrating abductions and torture on government critics.