ZANU PF has been urging for the lifting of the restrictive measures for years, and has used the ‘sanctions’ as the scapegoat for not implementing the Global Political Agreement (GPA). The party says the measures are to blame for the economic destruction of the country, despite being specifically targeted against key members of the regime because of human rights abuses and electoral theft, among other major issues.
The US and the European Union (EU), who imposed the measures, have both previously said that the ‘sanctions’ will remain until there is evidence of real reform by ZANU PF. Reforms have not happened and human rights concerns are still high despite the formation of the unity government three years ago.
Regardless of these concerns, there is now a growing call for the measures to be lifted which commentators have said is part of a ‘political game’.
Leaders in the Commonwealth are this month being urged “re-engage” with Zimbabwe by the Commonwealth Advisory Bureau (Cab), which said in a policy briefing that “reducing” sanctions would be a positive sign of support. The University of London-based Cab is an independent think tank and policy advisory service for the Commonwealth.
“There are plenty of things the Commonwealth could do, if it so wished,” the Cab said, adding: “It could, for instance, calibrate a reduction in international sanctions against Zimbabwe to match progress towards democracy and human rights.”
At the same time a United States Senator, Jim Inhofe, has reintroduced the Zimbabwe Sanctions Repeal Act of 2011, in a bid to lift the US sanctions imposed on the regime. According to a press release, Inhofe said repealing the measures would allow Zimbabwe to recover financially and “fully assist in its process of transition to democracy.”
“As a result of a 2008 power-sharing agreement engineered by the Southern African Development Community and the United States, Mugabe remains President, but the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai holds the post of Prime Minister. Under this new government, the Zimbabwe economy is starting to recover and democratic freedoms are re-emerging,” Inhofe said.
Inhofe’s attempts to have the measures repealed also come as the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Charles Ray, has encouraged more American investment in the country. Ray’s comments at a business summit in the US last week are being viewed as a sign that the US is trying to re-engage with Zimbabwe to secure its business interests in the mineral-wealthy country. Ray’s comments that the US was missing out to Russia and China have been singled out as telling of his government’s changing attitude towards Zimbabwe.
“Let me assure you that Zimbabwe is changing and it’s changing relatively quickly with investors from as far as Russia, Brazil and China having visited Zimbabwe in recent months to explore business opportunities and America’s presence remains fairly limited,” said Ray.
Meanwhile the private business sector in Zimbabwe has told the World Bank and the US State Department that the sanctions should be removed as they have a “collateral damage” on their businesses. Officials from the American Business Association of Zimbabwe (Abaz) last week met influential American officials, and expressed concern about their business interests.
Group financial director of Paramount Group, an integrated clothing and
manufacturing organisation, Jeremy Youmans, told American investors at a
“Doing business in Zimbabwe” forum last week that Abaz had met with
influential American officials explaining to them how sanctions were
affecting their businesses.
He said: “We arrived on Sunday and spent the last two days meeting
representatives of facilitation organisations, World Bank and the (US) State
Department as well. We were raising concerns that sanctions were a problem
to us because although they are specifically targeted they have a collateral
damage effect. So what are we doing about it? We are raising those issues to the policy makers to make them aware that they are causing us problems.”
Political analyst Clifford Mashiri told SW Radio Africa that the lifting of the targeted sanctions would be a serious “blunder,” explaining that “the reasons why these measures were put in place have not been resolved.” He said these measures are “the only real punishment facing the regime for human rights abuses, the same abuses that have displaced millions of people.”
“Lifting these measures would be a betrayal,” Mashiri said.
He also agreed that there is a sense of “fatigue” over the ongoing crisis in Zimbabwe, to the point that business interests are over-taking human rights interests for Western states. Mashiri warned that lifting the targeted sanctions would be the same as sidelining human rights, because its gives ZANU PF absolute impunity for the abuses they have committed and continue to commit. – Swradio africa
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