US-ZIMBABWE: Yearlong Sanctions Bring Few Reforms

• by Zach Rosenberg (washington)
• Tuesday, October 06, 2009
• Inter Press Service

After praising recent changes in government composition and fiscal policy, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson blasted Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his associates at a recent hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, citing a lack of progress in democratic reform and continued misrule as justification for continuing the sanctions on the Zimbabwe government

'The reason we imposed targeted sanctions and continue them now is the failure of those individuals to act in the best interest of the people of Zimbabwe,' said Carson. 'Our measures will remain in place until genuine, sustained democratic opening has taken place.'

The sanctions include travel and financial restrictions on 203 senior Zimbabwean government officials and their family members and business partners, imposed in 2002, as well as a suspension on the bilateral aid that is typical of U.S. aid programmes.

Bilateral aid has been suspended to Zimbabwe since 1986.

Instead, aid has come mostly in the form of food, medicine, training and assistance to non-governmental organisations working in the country. The U.S. is still the largest source of foreign aid to Zimbabwe, contributing a total 313 million dollars so far this year.

The U.S. coordinates closely with other major donors, including Australia, the European Commission, Canada and several Western European countries, all of whom are maintaining their own range of sanctions.

The relationship between the U.S. and Zimbabwe has been strained by the one-party rule of President Mugabe, who has gradually solidified his rule over Zimbabwe since the 1980 election that initially brought him to power.

Mugabe, hailed as a freedom fighter, overwhelmingly won the popular vote in Zimbabwe's 1980 elections.

Once commonly cited as an inspiration for post-colonial leadership of one of the most promising nations on the African continent, Mugabe is now routinely condemned for overseeing the ruin and near-collapse of Zimbabwe.

Unable to pay civil servant salaries or procure goods on the world market, Mugabe's attempt to print Zimbabwean dollars as a solution to his country's financial crisis led to massive hyperinflation, with the Zimbabwean dollar's inflation peaking at a reported 231,000,000 percent.

The inflationary crisis was solved only by the currency's complete elimination in favour of the more stable U.S. dollar in January.

Justified as an ultimate rejection of European colonisation, white-owned farms were seized and redistributed, many to people with little experience or interest in farming, leading to widespread famine.

Many farms, operating at much lower levels of productivity, are now allegedly owned by government officials and their relatives.

Civil servants, from doctors to garbage men, went unpaid for years, leading to a drop in government services, rampant low-level corruption and a ballooning crime rate.

After the catastrophic collapse of the Zimbabwean economy following years of civil unrest, increasingly harsh official repression and a plummeting standard of living, elections held in March 2008 were marred by widespread violence and a disputed outcome.

Ceding to heavy international pressure, last September Mugabe signed the Global Political Agreement (GPA), which called for significant democratic reforms, including a new constitution and free elections.

Since the GPA was signed, Zimbabwe has seen some progress. Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the main opposition party, has been appointed as prime minister, aid organisations, once outlawed by Mugabe, have been allowed to operate in the country, and the economy has noticeably stabilised in the past year.

But significant issues persist. Mugabe generally ignores the terms of the GPA, and opposition ministers have been arrested under questionable pretenses, and opposition supporters are still regularly beaten.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) detailed the issues in an August report entitled 'False Dawn'.

'There is mounting evidence that the new government is failing or unwilling to end serious human rights violations, restore the rule of law, institute fundamental rights reforms, and chart a new political direction for the country,'' the report said.

'Despite commitments made by all parties, the new power-sharing government has not taken any significant steps to ensure justice for victims of abuses or hold perpetrators of human rights violations to account. Police, prosecuting authorities, and court officials aligned with ZANU-PF continue to conduct politically motivated prosecutions of MDC legislators and activists,' HRW charged.

Most recently, revelations have surfaced of killings and forced labour at Zimbabwe's diamond mines, with profits going to senior Zimbabwean government and military officials.

Carson, who served as the U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe from 1995 to 1997, noted that, 'violent land invasions continue. So do severe human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings,' and that mineral revenues 'are plundered by [Mugabe] hardliners, and moved outside Zimbabwe for their own personal use.'

International donors have agreed, said U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) assistant administrator Earl Gast, to remove most sanctions if five key benchmarks are met: full and equal access to humanitarian assistance, commitment to macroeconomic stability, restoration of the rule of law, commitment to democratic processes and human rights, and commitment to timely elections verified by international observers.

Though these goals are unlikely to be met within the near future, the recent political and economic developments in Zimbabwe have proven a source of hope.

Jacob Zuma, the recently-elected president of South Africa, has been notably impatient with Mugabe's government, but after recent meetings with Zimbabwean political leaders in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital, Zuma returned to South Africa with positive reports.

South Africa, Zimbabwe's neighbour to the south, exerts significant influence on Zimbabwean policies. At least three million Zimbabweans have fled to South Africa to escape hunger and repression, which has led to flaring racial tensions in South Africa.

'Southern African leaders should stop looking at Zimbabwe through rose-coloured glasses,' Georgette Gagnon, HRW's Africa director, said in August. 'The region's leaders need to press Zimbabwe openly and publicly for human rights reforms to prevent the country from backsliding into state-sponsored violence and chaos.'

© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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