US welcomes broadened EU sanctions on Mugabe regime
US welcomes broadened EU sanctions on Mugabe regimeBy George Chellah in Harare, Zimbabwe
Tuesday July 29, 2008 [04:00]
THE US government has said the expanded sanctions will keep pressure on ZANU-PF to show good faith in the on-going inter-party negotiations. According to a statement issued by the US embassy in Harare, US State Department acting spokesperson Gonzalo Gallegos welcomed the European Union's (EU) recent announcement that it had broadened its own sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's regime.
"Expanded sanctions at this critical juncture will keep the pressure on the ZANU-PF to show good faith in these talks," Gallegos stated.
And the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has released a list of the 17 Zimbabwean firms that have been added to the new US sanctions list.
The Treasury's Office stated that the designated 17 entities, includes several Zimbabwean parastatals, and one individual whose support for President Mugabe's regime contributes to the undermining of democratic processes and institutions in Zimbabwe.
"Today's designations include a number of Zimbabwean parastatals and entities that are owned or controlled by the government of Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe, his senior officials, and regime cronies have used these entities to illegally siphon revenue and foreign exchange from the Zimbabwean people," the Treasury's Office stated.
"Treasury's designations today include the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (a.k.a MMCZ), the sole marketing and export agent for all minerals, except gold and silver, mined in Zimbabwe; the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation (a.k.a. ZMDC), involved in investment in the mining industry in Zimbabwe, and in planning, coordinating and implementing mining projects on behalf of the government of Zimbabwe.
"The Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company (a.k.a. ZISCO), Zimbabwe's largest steel works; the Agricultural Development Bank of Zimbabwe (a.k.a Agribank), a commercial bank owned by the government of Zimbabwe; the Industrial Development Corporation of Zimbabwe Ltd, a state-owned enterprise that owns a large number of companies operating in the industrial sector, including the chemical, clothing and textiles, mineral processing, and motor and transport sectors."
The Treasury's Office has further designated firms in the country's financial sector.
"The Infrastructure Development Bank of Zimbabwe, a financing entity; Zimre Holdings Limited, an investment and reinsurance entity; ZB Financial Holdings Limited, a holding company for a group of companies involved in commercial and merchant banking; and four major subsidiaries of ZB Financial Holdings Limited: ZB Bank Limited (a.k.a Zimbank), ZB Holdings Limited, Intermarket Holdings Limited, and Scotfin Limited," they stated.
They also released a list of individuals that have been targeted on the new list.
"Also designated today are Thamer Bin Saeed Ahmed Al-Shanfari, an Omani national allegedly with close ties to Mugabe and his top officials, as well as his company, Oryx Natural Resources, which Al-Shanfari uses to enable Mugabe and his senior officials to maintain access to, and derive personal benefit from, various mining ventures in the Democratic Republic of the Congo," they stated. "
OFAC has also designated OSLEG (a.k.a. Operation Sovereign Legitimacy), an enterprise that is a commercial arm of the Zimbabwean army representing its interests in the DRC and elsewhere, and which is controlled by various senior officials in Zimbabwe.
The activities of OSLEG and Al-Shanfari's Oryx Natural Resources, benefiting Robert Mugabe and his regime's senior officials, have been widely documented by various non-governmental and human rights organisations.
"Finally, OFAC is designating the following companies that are owned or controlled by a number of Specially Designated Nationals (‘SDNs’): Divine Homes, a property company whose chairman is SDN David Chapfika, Zimbabwe's deputy minister of agriculture; COMOIL (Pvt) Ltd., a petroleum importing company, owned by SDN Saviour Kasukuwere, Zimbabwe's deputy minister of youth development and employment creation; and Famba Safaris, a registered Zimbabwean safari operator, whose director and major shareholder is SDN Webster Shamu, Mugabe's minister of state for Policy Implementation."
They stated that as a result of Treasury's action, any assets of the individual and entities designated that are within US jurisdiction must be frozen and Americans are prohibited from conducting financial or commercial transactions with the individual or entities.
The Treasury's Office stated all of its targets have been illegally used to siphon revenue and foreign exchange from the Zimbabwean people.
OFAC director Adam Szubin stated that President Mugabe's regime continues to be intransigent in the face of calls to end the political violence.
"These actions send a clear warning to those who would protect Mugabe and his assets at the expense of the Zimbabwean people," stated Szubin.
Labels: COLOUR REVOLUTIONS, MDC, NEOCOLONIALISM, SANCTIONS, ZIMBABWE
posted by MrK @ 5:30 AM
1 Comments:
Are they coordinating these sanctions with the MDC? What does the MDC have to say about all this? Are they calling more sanctions while they negotiate? If so, who is really negotiating here? Morgan Tsvangirai? Or Gordon Brown and George Bush? It is time that Tsvangirai condemned these sanctions, if he wants to distance himself from them. Perhaps these are more of a signal not to president Mugabe, but to Tsvangirai about who is really in control of his party?
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