A State Department official said the Obama administration was pushing
Zimbabwe’s neighbors to use their influence over Mugabe but was also
exploring U.N. Security Council action to help ease the economic and
humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe.
Mugabe, in power since 1980, is widely blamed for economic ruin in
Zimbabwe, once seen as the region’s breadbasket. The country suffers
from runaway inflation and a cholera epidemic and its infrastructure
and basic services have collapsed.
"We are looking at what can be done and what the United Nations can do
to bring added pressure on Mugabe to accept real opposition membership
in government," said the official, who declined to be named as he was
not authorized to comment publicly.
"Our goal is to get strong, concerted action in the best form possible
at the United Nations," he added when asked whether it would be a
resolution that included sanctions.
Mugabe and his entourage are subject to a host of U.S., British and
European Union sanctions but the United Nations has not so far imposed
punitive measures.
Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai reached a power-sharing
deal in September but it has not been put into effect. Regional leaders
decided at a summit in South Africa on Tuesday that a unity government
should be formed next month.
The new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, is expected
to push for U.N. measures, a senior U.S. official said, but added he
did not know what they would include.
NEW SANCTIONS CONSIDERED
Russia and China last July vetoed a Western-backed Security Council
resolution that would have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe over the
violence-ridden presidential election.
A European diplomat at the United Nations in New York said getting
Russian and Chinese support for U.N. measures now would depend on how
bad the situation in Zimbabwe was deemed to be.
"The Russians have always said that they haven’t ruled out being able to agree to a sanctions resolution," the diplomat said.
State Department spokesman Robert Wood declined to discuss in detail
what action the United States wanted the U.N. to take but said
Washington had been discussing the possibilities with other member
states.
He said Mugabe was not interested in getting an "equitable solution" to
the current political crisis and blamed him squarely for Zimbabwe’s
economic ruin.
"He’s completely out of touch with the reality on the ground. His people are suffering greatly," said Wood.
A cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe is deepening and the U.S. Agency for
International Development said on Wednesday it was sending more aid to
help ease the crisis, including 440,000 bars of soap to be distributed
via the U.N. Children’s fund.
The World Health Organization estimates cholera has killed more than
3,000 Zimbabweans and infected at least 57,000, making it the deadliest
outbreak in Africa in 15 years.
The United States has pledged $6.8 million in emergency aid for
Zimbabwe’s cholera outbreak, USAID said. (Additional reporting by Louis
Charbonneau at the United Nations, Editing by David Storey)
By Sue Pleming
Post published in: News