Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) US reviewing sanctions against Zimbabwe: Biti

COMMENT - Also in the Xinhua News. And my guess that is Senator Barney Frank, I can't find any member in either houses of the US Congress called Ben Frank. And I would like to know why he supported ZDERA in the first place. Ar Russ Feingold, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, for that matter.

US reviewing sanctions against Zimbabwe: Biti
Philip Murombedzi
Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:28:00 +0000

FINANCE Minister Tendai Biti said the United States has pledged to review the sanctions law, the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act which it enacted in 2001 and which has dealt a huge blow to the Zimbabwean economy for the past decade.

After his recent state trip to the US, Biti said he met U.S. lawmakers who pledged to amend the law, which bars the U.S. government and companies from extending credit loans to Zimbabwe.

Biti said he met Congressman Donald Payne and Senator Ben Frank - some of the lawmakers that pushed for ZDERA - who told him that the sanctions legislation would be partially lifted.

"From the discussions I had with Congressman Donald Payne and others like Ben Frank, I think what had happened last year is that they had started moves towards amendments to ZDERA," Biti said.

"It would be best that these amendments be pulled through. They undertook to review their positions."

"They listened to us and undertook to review their position," he said, adding that representation had also been made on behalf of some government companies affected by the embargo.

Biti said the US as well as British and German government officials who met his delegation also pledged to support Zimbabwe in its bid to have its voting rights restored at the IMF.

"We expect a meeting of the (IMF) executive directors to take place very soon and we are confident Zimbabwe's voting rights will be restored," he said.

Biti said he had also discussed with the World Bank the apparent failure by the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) to raise the much need funding to support Zimbabwe's turnaround programme.

A total of 800 million USD in the country's 2010 budget was expected to come through the MDTF, a vehicle set up June last year with the approval of the World Bank to raise funds to support Zimbabwe after formation of the inclusive Government in February 2009.

However, the decision to reverse ZDERA requires a congressional amendment which is difficult to get in the U.S.

Analysts criticise Biti for being too optimistic saying the finance minister should not draw too much from his discussions with the legislators.

Ironically, the MDC-T party, in which Biti is secretary-general, was unmasked as an architect of ZDERA.

In an interview on ZBC Current Affairs programme, Melting Pot, in September last year, MDC founder member and former parliamentarian Gabriel Chaibva categorically stated that ZDERA was the brainchild of the MDC party and was drafted by top officials from that party at a hotel in Nyanga, Zimbabwe.

“I was there when Zidera was crafted in Nyanga by the MDC.

"At that point Munyaradzi Gwisai stood up in protest and told everyone present that the MDC had been taken over by the U.S. and Europe and business was no longer controlled from Harvest House…,” said Chaibva at the time.

Chaibva’s revelations put paid to denials by the MDC that they did not call for the imposition of sanctions as they actually drafted the legislation used by the U.S. to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe.

President Mugabe and the Zanu PF party have been calling for the repeal of ZDERA and other sanctions imposed by the West, arguing the embargo was hurting ordinary Zimbabweans and the economy.

Earlier this month, power-sharing talks stalled amid revelations by Britain that the MDC controlled some of the sanctions.

Labels: DONALD PAYNE, SANCTIONS, TENDAI BITI, ZDERA

posted by MrK @ 4:13 PM