AFP
Posted on 07/12/2008 12:36:08 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
HARARE (AFP) - President Robert Mugabe's government was triumphant Saturday at the failure of a UN bid to impose fresh sanctions on Zimbabwe as Britain pledged to return to the Security Council if political violence continued.
Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown would discuss further measures with EU partners next week, a spokesman for the premier said in a statement.
"We will continue to stand firmly for human rights and democracy and will return to the Security Council in the absence of early progress on mediation, humanitarian access and an end to violence," the statement added.
Mugabe's government, meanwhile, thanked those countries that opposed the US draft resolution aimed at imposing an assets freeze and travel ban on Mugabe and 13 of his closest allies.
Harare reserved particular praise for South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been criticised for his policy of "quiet diplomacy" with Mugabe.
Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu described him as a "leader par excellence" for not yielding to "international pressure and to the machinations of the West led by Britain and United States."
China and Russia on Friday vetoed the US draft while South Africa, Libya and Vietnam voted against the resolution. Indonesia abstained.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the decision would be "incomprehensible" to the people of Zimbabwe and America's UN envoy warned that Russia's veto cast doubt on its reliability as a G8 ally.
Russian slammed criticism by both the US and Britain as "unacceptable."
"Representatives of the United States and Britain have declared that our vote betrayed the G8 Tokyo summit accords on Zimbabwe and that this posed questions about Russia's reliability as a partner in the G8," government spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said in a statement.
"We consider such statements unacceptable," he added.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
AFP
If Mugabe escapes even these mild UN actions there is no reason for him and his crew to restrain themselves at all.
They need to send Carter in.
This is the start of some really bad ju-ju headed SA’s way. The compassionate socialists who run SA have been deporting 16,000 or so Zim’s a day for awhile now.
Put on the Jiffy-Pop, the show is about to get bloody.
If you have the stomach for it, try and catch a viewing of the controversial 1964 film “Africa Addio”. Too many similarities to today’s Africa.
Exactly. How strong is the South African government?
How long before “humanitarians” beg for U.S. aid for Zimbabwe again?!
Mugabe at least serves as a living example of the total failure of communism. He’s managed to run Zimbabwe down into the leagues of Cuba and North Korea, with the added “bonus” of near-anarchy and chaos and violence at the local level.
Can you say, “impotent?”
As an expert in murdering its own citizens, Russia doesn't want the UN to intervene in Communists' "internal affairs." Neither do China and Vietnam.
I don't know, but no government can be strong with that high a crime rate and lead by a government of ANC thugs. All they can unite on is hatred of the US and White pepole.
Nothing shocking, same old story out of the U.N., China, Russia & their tin pot cohorts.
I hear you. Sort of like the governments of Detroit, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Milwaukee or any other city, state run by Democrats!
It is darkly amusing to review the original aims of the UN and contrast them with what it has become. Without tedious enumeration, it was intended to promote a basically Western set of ideals concerning representative government, non-violence, and human rights. It has become the principal means for countries who oppose these ideals to block them. It is long past time for the United States to cease subsidizing this corrupt, cynical, travesty of an organization.
agreed ,, achieving true progress thru indecision and stalling has never worked.
ceaucescu time works for me at this point, the populace will need to make it happen. It will mean more to them long-term if they over throw this regime than to have outside forces jump in.
Oh give it up. Ian Smith's regime wasn't going to last, Carter or no Carter. The boobs in Zimbabwe put Mugabe in. They kept him in. They're reaping the results of their poor decisions.
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe attends his inauguration at State House in Harare, in this file photo from June 29, 2008.Russia and China vetoed on Friday a Western-backed U.N. Security Council resolution to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe for holding a violent presidential poll that was boycotted by the opposition candidate. (Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters)
South Africa’s President Mbeki has lost control of his own party - the ANC - to a more radical leftist who was recently acquited of rape. Interestingly, the rival, whose name escapes me at the moment, has been more outspoken against Mugabe that Mbeki, who refuses to criticize Harare. Only recently has Nelson Mandela spoken out against Mugabe, calling the situation a ‘failure of leadership’.
Mugabe is well on his way to becoming a mass murderer, like Joshua Nkomo.
Some boobs in London may have been involved too.
Oh crap. Smith's regime held power because only whites could vote or hold property or have any control whatsoever. It fought a long and losing guerrilla war from 1972 until the end. It was an international pariah with no support from any country, including South Africa towards the end. It was doomed, Carter or no Carter. And the alternatives to Mugabi weren't much different. If you honestly think that had Carter not been around then a white-run Rhodesia would still be around then you are indeed nuts.
Why do you feel a need to insult people just because they disagree with your opinion? I will try to be polite. Mugabe and a handful of thugs are able to control Zimbabwe despite the fact that people are starving, the currency is worthless and the people live in total misery. During the government of Ian Smith people in what is now called Zimbabwe were infinitely better off and the small groups of violent thugs such as Mugabe etc were being defeated by the army. The economic sanctions and other pressure by the Carter Administration, and following Carter's lead, the British. Do you really believe it is just a coincidence that the Ian Smith government agreed to a power sharing arrangement at the same time the Carter Administration was applying immense pressure? If there were honest elections in Zimbabwe today and the people were given the choice between a government like they had in the 1960’s and early 1970’s or the current situation they would overwhelming choose a government like they previously had.
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