US ready to help if will of people respected

“No regime should ignore the will of its own people and calls from the international community without consequences,” Bush said.

The US President acknowledged ongoing discussions between Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) party and the MDC in South Africa adding if the talks result in “a new government that reflects the will of the Zimbabwean people, the United States stands ready to provide a substantial assistance package, development aid and normalization with international financial institutions.”

Bush spoke as his government unveiled a US$2.5 million package under the U.S. Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund to help Zimbabwean refugees and asylum seekers mainly in South Afric, Botswana, Mozambique and Zambia, who have been displaced by political violence.  

Political violence surrounding the June 27 presidential run off vote killed at least 130 people, most of them MDC supporters. Mugabe later declared a blanket amnesty for most of those responsible for the violence.  

“We will also continue our efforts to provide food and health assistance as part of our commitment to help the people of Zimbabwe in their time of greatest need,” Bush said.

Welcoming the European Union’s July 22 announcement that it had expanded its own sanctions against the Mugabe regime, US State Department acting spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said July 23 that “expanded sanctions at this critical juncture will keep the pressure on the ZANU-PF to show good faith in these talks.”