Coltart in sanctions U-turn
Saturday, 09 June 2012 21:07
Sunday Mail Reporter
Education, Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Senator David Coltart has called for the lifting of sanctions against Zimbabwe in a major climb-down by the MDC-N legal affairs secretary who reportedly helped the United States to craft the heinous Zimbabwe Democracy Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA) in 2001.
Senator Coltart was in the US a fortnight ago where he urged that country’s government to mend relations with Zimbabwe and is confident that the call for the removal of the illegal embargo will yield results.
“My main mission was to meet with senators and congressmen in the American government as part of a drive aimed at seeing them engage the inclusive Government on the removal of sanctions.
“On the other hand, I also met money-lending institutions and international education organisations as I sought support for the country’s education sector,” he said.
Among other senior US officials, Sen Coltart met the Deputy Secretary for African Affairs, Johnnie Carson, and the Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, Michael Posner. He also met Senator Jim Inhofe, who recently told his fellow congressmen that sanctions were affecting ordinary citizens in Zimbabwe and stalling economic development.
“The overall reaction to my call for the removal of sanctions was positive. As for the education support for Zimbabwe, I met officials from the World Bank, Unicef and the Global Partnership for Education,” he said.
Asked whether he had assisted the US government to craft ZDERA, Senator Coltart’s response was ambiguous.
“That allegation is totally without foundation because if I had that power, I would go to Washington and ask the US to remove the sanctions right now.
[That makes no sense. Whether he had anything to do with drawing up ZDERA has nothing to dow with whether he has the power to revoke it. It is an evasive answer, to say the least. - MrK]
“However, there were gross human rights violations in 2001 and what we merely said to the US government was that the perpetrators of such abuses should be punished,” he said.
[There were gross human rights violations upto 1980, for which YOU have not been punished. - MrK]
Finance Minister Tendai Biti, who is also believed to have worked with Sen Coltart in assisting the US in crafting ZDERA, recently made a U-turn on sanctions when he told delegates at a World Bank meeting in Washington last month that the West should immediately lift the embargo.
A fortnight ago UN Human Rights chief Ms Navanethem Pillay also added her voice to the lifting of sanctions.
*************************
COMMENTS FROM THE WEBSITE:
TruthHurts! - Sunday, June 10, 2012 at 02:44 PMThis bastard went to America as part of a group comprising of himself, Tendayi mBiti and Welshman Ncube in 2000 before the MDshit split to beg for sanctions hoping that they will catapult them into power and rape us all. He must NEVER EVER try to lie his way out of this one.
Many Zimbabweans died from curable diseases just because there was no medicine in hospitals for their treatment and fuel at service stations to ferry them to hospitals in cases of medical emergency. This was a situation that was a direct result of the sanctions that these murderers had invited upon their own people. The sanctions must not be seen as if it is a game of football where there is a winner and a loser or the teams draw and everyone goes home to celebrate or moan about the missed chances by their strikers if their team had lost or has drawn.
This is about people like them who ultimately died because these egotistical morons thought they are better than other people and that power is their entitlement. They wanted power to abuse and use us all in a humiliating way under the guidance and control of the people they met in America when they went to beg for these sanctions.
Coltart cannot wriggle his way out of this one and when you report about things like this you demean the dead by saying that ''Coltart makes U-turn on sanctions'' as if their effect on people has been harmless (I am not saying that you, Editor or your Reporter say sanctions are harmless but when perceived holistically in the general scheme of things, the whole Coltart thingy in your article seems to imply that sanctions are harmless). When little boys and girls without shoes walk in the depths of sewage spewing in Mbare streets and contracting diseases that cannot be said to be harmless. When students at our Universities and schools are studying under a very difficult environment that never existed when some of those who invited these sanctions went school we cannot say the sanctions are harmless.
When generally the whole economy has had to operate on a cash basis that nearly slid us into being a failed State unlike other countries that are trading openly we cannot say sanctions are harmless. Sanctions and the nightmare that Coltart, mBiti and Welshman Ncube invited cause a lot of untold hardships that have rendered us subjects of ridicule and abuse by people from other nations - some of whom like Lindiwe Zulu who are in govt but not in power - you can not say that is harmless to the dented confidence and pride we have had to endure.
They have had an effect on most of us Zimbabweans in those places that we travel to, the people we meet and in the things we do, the way we do them and how we do them. A Coltart u-turn is therefore for himself, not us. These three bastards are the kind that if we were still living in Shakespearean times we would demand that they reverse all the damage their sanctions have caused us or we demand our pound of flesh to be paid with their lives. We would want to see his u-turn blowing life back into those that perished because of his set Rhodesian ways that sees the death of black people as acceptable ''collateral damage'' to their wars against other races and therefore nothing to think or worry about.
I think there is still need to talk about this today, tomorrow and in the foreseeable future. Its not over. We cannot continue reconciling with people that we pardoned for their heinous crimes in 1980 and then in 2000 they do it again, piss on our heads and tell us it is raining heavily and there is a hailstorm! No-o ways! This time we looked up and saw that the weather is fine and it is them pissing on us and WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!!
This is us and this time someone has to be held answerable for the many orphans the sanctions created. And it is those three and their leader who went to invite them.
Labels: DAVID COLTART, JIM INHOFE, SANCTIONS, ZDERA
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COMMENT - Check out all the
relevant links and articles to this bill here. UPDATE: This bill has been re-introduced as
S.1646 of the 112th US Congress (2011-2012).
US Senator joins fight against Zim sanctions
Saturday, 02 June 2012 18:04
Sunday Mail Reporter
United States Senator Jim Inhofe has added his voice to the growing calls for the lifting of illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by his country and its Western allies,noting that the embargo is affecting the lives of the ordinary man and impeding economic development.
Inhofe, who is a member of the
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) and
has introduced a Bill that seeks to have the sanctions scrapped, highlighted that the embargo was “hurting and not helping the Zimbabwean people”.
The US legislator’s statement comes hot on the heels of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay’s call for the lifting of the illegal sanctions.
It also comes at a time when Government has taken the fight against the illegal sanctions a notch up with the Attorney-General, Mr Johannes Tomana, filing a lawsuit against the European Union.
A statement posted on the US senate website last week reads: “US Sen Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) and leading advocate for the continent of Africa in the US Senate, today strongly supported recent comments made by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay that economic sanctions against Zimbabwe be lifted.
“Since 2001, economic sanctions against Zimbabwe have resulted in the denial of extension of loans, credits, or guarantees to the Government of Zimbabwe from the United States or any international financial institution.”
The statement quoted Inhofe as saying: “I fully support UN Commissioner Navi Phillay’s (sic) belief that economic sanctions are only hurting — not helping — the Zimbabwean people.
“Over the last four years, Zimbabwe’s power-sharing Government has improved the economy and the general well-being of its people.
“This is evident by both the sharp decline of their inflation rate and the improvement of their gross domestic product (GDP).
“However, with the continuing inability to receive international loans or credits, Zimbabwe’s economy is held back from achieving total fiscal prosperity.”
****************
The Press Release:
INHOFE: REPEAL U.S. ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AGAINST ZIMBABWE NOW
Contacts: Jared Young 202-224-5762
Liz Lathrop 202-224-1282
May 25, 2012
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) and leading advocate for the continent of Africa in the U.S. Senate, today strongly supported recent comments made by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay that economic sanctions against Zimbabwe be lifted. Since 2001, economic sanctions against Zimbabwe have resulted in the denial of extension of loans, credits, or guarantees to the Government of Zimbabwe from the United States or any international financial institution.
Citing the improvement of leadership stemming from the 2008 power-sharing agreement engineered by both the Southern African Development Community and the United States, that kept Robert Mugabe as President, but named reformer Morgan Tsvangirai as Prime Minister, Inhofe introduced a bill in the 111th Congress to repeal these sanctions against Zimbabwe. This year, Inhofe reintroduced his repeal bill as S. 1646. Under this legislation, economic sanctions would be lifted in order to restore the Zimbabwe economy and be the crucial assist reformers need to transition to democracy.
“Repealing economic sanctions against Zimbabwe is the only solution to bringing full economic recovery and democratic transition to this African nation,” said Inhofe.
“Today, I fully support UN Commissioner Navi Phillay’s belief that economic sanctions are only hurting – not helping – the Zimbabwean people. Over the last four years, Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government has improved the economy and the general wellbeing of its people. This is evident by both the sharp decline of their inflation rate and the improvement of their gross domestic product (GDP). However, with the continuing inability to receive international loans or credits, Zimbabwe’s economy is held back from achieving total fiscal prosperity. Repealing these U.S. sanctions will provide Prime Minister Tsvangirai and his reformers the tools they need to return Zimbabwe to being called the ‘Breadbasket of Africa’ and engineer the transition to democracy that we all seek.”
Labels: JIM INHOFE, SANCTIONS, ZDERA
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COMMENT - Check out all the relevant
links and articles to this bill here. US Senator joins fight against Zim sanctions
Saturday, 02 June 2012 18:04
Sunday Mail Reporter
United States Senator Jim Inhofe has added his voice to the growing calls for the lifting of illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by his country and its Western allies,noting that the embargo is affecting the lives of the ordinary man and impeding economic development.
Inhofe, who is a member of the
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) and has introduced a Bill that seeks to have the sanctions scrapped, highlighted that the embargo was “hurting and not helping the Zimbabwean people”.
The US legislator’s statement comes hot on the heels of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay’s call for the lifting of the illegal sanctions.
It also comes at a time when Government has taken the fight against the illegal sanctions a notch up with the Attorney-General, Mr Johannes Tomana, filing a lawsuit against the European Union.
A statement posted on the US senate website last week reads: “US Sen Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) and leading advocate for the continent of Africa in the US Senate, today strongly supported recent comments made by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay that economic sanctions against Zimbabwe be lifted.
“Since 2001, economic sanctions against Zimbabwe have resulted in the denial of extension of loans, credits, or guarantees to the Government of Zimbabwe from the United States or any international financial institution.”
The statement quoted Inhofe as saying: “I fully support UN Commissioner Navi Phillay’s (sic) belief that economic sanctions are only hurting — not helping — the Zimbabwean people.
“Over the last four years, Zimbabwe’s power-sharing Government has improved the economy and the general well-being of its people.
“This is evident by both the sharp decline of their inflation rate and the improvement of their gross domestic product (GDP).
“However, with the continuing inability to receive international loans or credits, Zimbabwe’s economy is held back from achieving total fiscal prosperity.”
Labels: JIM INHOFE, SANCTIONS, ZDERA
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US owns up to Zimbabwe sanctions
by Stephen Gowans
24/08/2010 00:00:00
THE received wisdom among Western governments, journalists and some concerned progressive scholars is that there have been no broad-based, economic sanctions imposed upon Zimbabwe.
Instead, in their view, there are only targeted sanctions, with limited effects, aimed at punishing President Robert Mugabe and the top leadership of the Zanu PF party.
The sanctions issue, they say, is a red herring Robert Mugabe and his supporters use to divert attention from the true cause of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown: redistribution of land from white commercial farmers to hundreds of thousands of indigenous families, a programme denigrated as "economic mismanagement".
Yet, it has always been clear to anyone willing to do a little digging that there are indeed broad-based economic sanctions against Zimbabwe; that there have been since 2001, when US president George W. Bush signed them into law; that they were imposed in response to Zimbabwe’s land reform program; and that Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown happened after sanctions were imposed, not before.
US sanctions, implemented under the US Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, effectively block Zimbabwe’s access to debt relief and balance of payment support from international financial institutions. In addition, the EU and other Western countries have imposed their own sanctions.
On occasion, Mugabe’s detractors have been caught out in their deceptions about sanctions being targeted solely at a few highly-placed members of Zanu PF rather than the economy, and therefore Zimbabweans, as a whole.
At those times, they have countered that while sanctions may exist, they have had little impact, and anyway, they play into Mugabe’s hands. As progressive scholar Horace Campbell put it: "The Zimbabwe Government is very aware of the anti-imperialist and anti-racist sentiments among oppressed peoples and thus has deployed a range of propagandists inside and outside the country in a bid to link every problem in Zimbabwe to international sanctions by the EU and USA."
Campbell turns reality on its head. The fact of the matter is that the US government has deployed a range of propagandists, both within and outside Zimbabwe, in a bid to link every problem in Zimbabwe to the alleged folly of redistributing land stolen by European settlers to the descendants of the original owners.
Campbell’s argument echoes similar sophistry used to excuse the US blockade on Cuba. Economic sanctions on Cuba, the Castros’ detractors argue, have had little impact on the island’s economy, and are used by the Cuban government to falsely link its economic difficulties to US economic warfare.
The Castros, they say, stay in power by diverting attention from their own mismanagement and laying blame for their country’s economic problems at Washington’s doorstep.
That this argument holds no water is evidenced by the reality that Washington could easily deprive the Cuban communists of their alleged diversionary tactics by lifting the sanctions, but chooses not to.
The idea that power-hungry leaders exploit mild sanctions as a dishonest manoeuvre to disguise their failings is insupportable. Far from having little impact, economic sanctions devastate economies; that’s their purpose.
Denying the role they play in ruining economies is tantamount to denying that dropping napalm on villages creates wastelands. John Mueller and Karl Mueller pointed out in a famous 1999 article titled "Sanctions of Mass Destruction" — it appeared in the May/June 1999 issue of the uber-establishment journal Foreign Affairs — that: ‘‘…the big countries have at their disposal a credible, inexpensive, and potent weapon for use against small and medium-sized foes.
"The dominant powers have shown that they can inflict enormous pain at remarkably little cost to themselves or the global economy. Indeed, in a matter of months or years whole economies can be devastated…’’
The improbable idea that sanctions have little impact invites the question: If they make little difference, why do Western governments deploy them so often?
Supporters of the view that sanctions are minor inconveniences that punish a few powerful leaders, who then exploit them to draw attention away from their own economic management, expect us to believe that the leaders of major powers are simpletons who devise ineffective sanctions policies — and that they persist despite their sanctions playing into the hands of the sanctions’ targets.
If the sanctions supporters’ laughable logic and the reality that US sanction legislation is on the public record for all to see weren’t enough, legislation brought forward by US Senator Jim Inhofe ought to lay to rest the deception that sanctions haven’t torpedoed Zimbabwe’s economy.
The title of Inhofe’s bill, the Zimbabwe Sanctions Repeal Act of 2010, makes clear that sanctions have indeed been imposed on Zimbabwe and have had deleterious effects.
According to the bill, now that the Western-backed Movement for Democratic Change holds senior positions in Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government, US sanctions against Zimbabwe need to be repealed "in order to restore fully the economy of Zimbabwe".
In other words, sanctions are preventing Zimbabwe’s economy from flourishing — the same point Mugabe has been making for years, cynically say his critics.
Yet, while the implication of Inhofe’s bill is that sanctions have undermined Zimbabwe’s economy (otherwise, why would economic recovery require their repeal?)
Inhofe tries to disguise the role US sanctions originally played in creating an economic catastrophe in Zimbabwe, arguing that the sanctions were imposed only after Mugabe allegedly turned Zimbabwe into a basket case by democratising patterns of land ownership.
But it makes more sense to say that sanctions ruined the economy. After all, the purpose of economic sanctions is to wreak economic havoc. And what would be the point of trying to devastate Zimbabwe’s economy after Mugabe had allegedly already ruined it?
Finally, in pressing for the repeal of sanctions to allow for economic recovery, Inhofe acknowledges that the sanctions do indeed have crippling consequences.
Inhofe may be able to argue (improbably) that the sanctions were imposed to punish Zimbabwe for Harare’s economic mismanagement (which would mean that Washington expected Zimbabweans to suffer an additional blow on top of the one already meted out by Harare’s alleged mismanagement — a pointless cruelty, if true); but he can’t argue that the sanctions didn’t undermine the country’s economy: his bill acknowledges this very point
Finally, the fact that Inhofe’s legislation seeks repeal of the sanctions because the MDC holds key positions in the Zimbabwean government reveals that the MDC, as much as sanctions, is an instrument of US foreign policy.
Sanctions were rolled out in response to land redistribution with the aim of crippling the economy so that the ensuing economic chaos could be attributed to land reform itself.
With MDC members brought into a power-sharing government in key posts, it has become necessary in the view of Inhofe and others that sanctions be lifted to allow an economic recovery.
If the bill is ratified and signed into law, the ensuing recovery will be attributed to the efforts of the MDC cabinet members, an attribution that that will be just as misleading as linking the destructive effects of sanctions to Zanu-PF’s efforts to fulfil the land redistribution aspirations of the national liberation struggle.
The major part of Zimbabwe’s economic troubles — and a large part of the prospects for economic recovery — are sanctions-related.
Stephen Gowans is a Canadian blogger and political activist resident in Ottawa. This article is reproduced from gowans.wordpress.com
Labels: CUBA, JIM INHOFE, SANCTIONS, ZDERA
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US Bill to repeal Zimbabwe sanctions
by Staff Reporters
19/08/2010 00:00:00
THE United States is going through the early motions of lifting sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe in 2001, but the country’s top envoy warned Wednesday a repeal Bill introduced by Senator Jim Inhofe (Republican-Oklahoma) has a “convoluted and complex process to go through”.
Senator Inhofe, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced the Zimbabwe Sanctions Repeal Act of 2010 to the United States Congress on August 5. If signed into law, the Act would annul the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 (ZDERA).
The Library of Congress website showed Wednesday that the Bill had been read twice and referred to the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
Any member of Congress – made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives -- can propose legislation which would have to pass a vote in both legislative chambers before it is sent to the President who retains a veto power.
On his website, Senator Inhofe said the new legislation, if passed, “will lift U.S. economic sanctions originally imposed on the African nation of Zimbabwe in 2001, and restore the country’s economy and aide in the nation’s transition to democracy.”
He added: “I’m pleased that the African nation of Zimbabwe continues to recover under the new power-sharing leadership set by both the United States and the Southern African Development Community.
“I commend the efforts of the power-sharing government there as they have reduced inflation and improved GDP and basic government services like medicine, education, and transportation.
“It is my hope that my legislation will help Zimbabwe return to being called the ‘Breadbasket of Africa’ and continue on the road to democracy.”
ZDERA was signed into law by former President George Bush after Zimbabwe began seizing white commercial farms for resettlement amid complaints of intimidation, murder and violence committed by independence war veterans.
Senators Bill Frist (R-Tennessee) and Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) introduced the Bill on March 8, 2001. Senators Frist, Jesse Helms (R-North Carolina), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-New York), and Joseph Biden (D-Delaware) sponsored it. The Bill passed a vote in the Senate on August 1, and in the House on December 4. Bush signed it into law on December 21, 2001.
ZDERA specifically directs United States citizens who are directors at international financial institutions to oppose and vote against any extension of any loan, credit, or guarantee to the government of Zimbabwe or any cancellation or reduction of debt. It also slapped travel restrictions on President Robert Mugabe and dozens of government officials as well as economic sanctions on state-owned enterprises.
But the formation of a power sharing government between Mugabe and bitter former opposition rivals Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara in 2009 has led to calls for the sanctions – which President Barack Obama renewed in March -- to be lifted. Mugabe blames the sanctions for the country's economic collapse over the last decade and accuses the United States and its European Union allies -- who have also imposed sanctions -- of seeking "regime change" in Zimbabwe.
The United States ambassador to Zimbabwe Charles Ray told a media conference on Wednesday that ZDERA was being “reviewed”, but said he would not speculate on the outcome. He also warned the process could drag on for months.
“We recognise that this is a process (whether to lift sanctions) that must be constantly reviewed, and that review is taking place,” Ray said, speaking broadly with no reference to the proposed legislation by Senator Inhofe.
Also Wednesday, Sweden became the first European Union country to call for the lifcting of sanctions. Sweden's outgoing ambassador to Zimbabwe Sten Rylander said he hoped the sanctions would be lifted sooner rather than later.
Asked what he made of Rylander's comments, ambassador Ray said: "Everybody is entitled to their views ..."
Labels: CHARLES RAY, JIM INHOFE, ZDERA
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what's left
US Senator comes clean on Zimbabwe sanctions
By Stephen Gowans
August 21, 2010
The received wisdom among Western governments, journalists and some concerned progressive scholars is that there have been no broad-based, economic sanctions imposed upon Zimbabwe. Instead, in their view, there are only targeted sanctions, with limited effects, aimed at punishing President Robert Mugabe and the top leadership of the Zanu-PF party. The sanctions issue, they say, is a red herring Mugabe and his supporters use to divert attention from the true cause of Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown: redistribution of land from white commercial farmers to hundreds of thousands of indigenous families, a program denigrated as “economic mismanagement”.
Yet, it has always been clear to anyone willing to do a little digging that there are indeed broad-based economic sanctions against Zimbabwe; that there have been since 2001, when US president George W. Bush signed them into law; that they were imposed in response to Zimbabwe’s land reform program; and that Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown happened after sanctions were imposed, not before.
US sanctions, implemented under the US Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, effectively block Zimbabwe’s access to debt relief and balance of payment support from international financial institutions. In addition, the EU and other Western countries have imposed their own sanctions.
On occasion, Mugabe’s detractors have been caught out in their deceptions about sanctions being targeted solely at a few highly placed members of Zanu-PF rather than the economy, and therefore Zimbabweans, as a whole. At those times, they have countered that while sanctions may exist, they have had little impact, and anyway, they play into Mugabe’s hands. As progressive scholar Horace Campbell put it: “The Zimbabwe government is very aware of the anti-imperialist and anti-racist sentiments among oppressed peoples and thus has deployed a range of propagandists inside and outside the country in a bid to link every problem in Zimbabwe to international sanctions by the EU and USA.”
Campbell turns reality on its head. The fact of the matter is that the US government has deployed a range of propagandists, both within and outside Zimbabwe, in a bid to link every problem in Zimbabwe to the alleged folly of redistributing land stolen by European settlers to the descendants of the original owners.
Campbell’s argument echoes similar sophistry used to excuse the US blockade on Cuba. Economic sanctions on Cuba, the Castros’ detractors argue, have had little impact on the island’s economy, and are used by the Cuban government to falsely link its economic difficulties to US economic warfare. The Castros, they say, stay in power by diverting attention from their own mismanagement and laying blame for their country’s economic problems at Washington’s doorstep. That this argument holds no water is evidenced by the reality that Washington could easily deprive the Cuban communists of their alleged diversionary tactics by lifting the sanctions, but choose not to.
The idea that power-hungry leaders exploit mild sanctions as a dishonest manoeuvre to disguise their failings is insupportable. Far from having little impact, economic sanctions devastate economies; that’s their purpose. Denying the role they play in ruining economies is tantamount to denying that dropping napalm on villages creates wastelands. John Mueller and Karl Mueller pointed out in a famous 1999 article titled “Sanctions of Mass Destruction” – it appeared in the May/June 1999 issue of the uber-establishment journal Foreign Affairs — that:
…the big countries have at their disposal a credible, inexpensive, and potent weapon for use against small and medium-sized foes. The dominant powers have shown that they can inflict enormous pain at remarkably little cost to themselves or the global economy. Indeed, in a matter of months or years whole economies can be devastated…
The improbable idea that sanctions have little impact invites the question: If they make little difference, why do Western governments deploy them so often? Supporters of the view that sanctions are minor inconveniences that punish a few powerful leaders, who then exploit them to draw attention away from their own economic management, expect us to believe that the leaders of major powers are simpletons who devise ineffective sanctions policies – and that they persist despite their sanctions playing into the hands of the sanctions’ targets.
If the sanctions supporters’ laughable logic and the reality that US sanction legislation is on the public record for all to see weren’t enough, legislation brought forward by US Senator Jim Inhofe ought to lay to rest the deception that sanctions haven’t torpedoed Zimbabwe’s economy.
The title of Inhofe’s bill, the Zimbabwe Sanctions Repeal Act of 2010, makes clear that sanctions have indeed been imposed on Zimbabwe and have had deleterious effects. According to the bill, now that the Western-backed Movement for Democratic Change holds senior positions in Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government, US sanctions against Zimbabwe need to be repealed “in order to restore fully the economy of Zimbabwe.” In other words, sanctions are preventing Zimbabwe’s economy from flourishing – the same point Mugabe has been making for years, cynically say his critics.
Yet, while the implication of Inhofe’s bill is that sanctions have undermined Zimbabwe’s economy (otherwise, why would economic recovery require their repeal?) Inhofe tries to disguise the role US sanctions originally played in creating an economic catastrophe in Zimbabwe, arguing that the sanctions were imposed only after Mugabe allegedly turned Zimbabwe into a basket case by democratizing patterns of land ownership. But it makes more sense to say that sanctions ruined the economy. After all, the purpose of economic sanctions is to wreak economic havoc. And what would be the point of trying to devastate Zimbabwe’s economy after Mugabe had allegedly already ruined it? Finally, in pressing for the repeal of sanctions to allow for economic recovery, Inhofe acknowledges that the sanctions do indeed have crippling consequences.
Inhofe may be able to argue (improbably) that the sanctions were imposed to punish Zimbabwe for Harare’s economic mismanagement (which would mean that Washington expected Zimbabweans to suffer an additional blow on top of the one already meted out by Harare’s alleged mismanagement — a pointless cruelty, if true); but he can’t argue that the sanctions didn’t undermine the country’s economy: his bill acknowledges this very point
Finally, the fact that Inhofe’s legislation seeks repeal of the sanctions because the MDC holds key positions in the Zimbabwean government, reveals that the MDC, as much as sanctions, is an instrument of US foreign policy. Sanctions were rolled out in response to land redistribution with the aim of crippling the economy so that the ensuing economic chaos could be attributed to land reform itself.
With MDC members brought into a power-sharing government in key posts, it has become necessary in the view of Inhofe and others that sanctions be lifted to allow an economic recovery. If the bill is ratified and signed into law, the ensuing recovery will be attributed to the efforts of the MDC cabinet members, an attribution that that will be just as misleading as linking the destructive effects of sanctions to Zanu-PF’s efforts to fulfill the land redistribution aspirations of the national liberation struggle. The major part of Zimbabwe’s economic troubles – and a large part of the prospects for economic recovery – are sanctions-related.
Labels: CUBA, JIM INHOFE, LAND REFORM, SANCTIONS, STEPHEN GOWANS, ZDERA, ZIMBABWE, ZTDERA
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This is stunning news.
Senator Jim Inhofe has introduced legislation to repeal the ILLEGAL economic sanctions that the Bush Administration used to destroy the Zimbabwean economy. ZDERA was introduced in December 2001, and unlike landreform,
coincides with the collapse of the Zimbabwean currency and trade surplus in 2002.
It put the Zimbabwean government on a credit freeze, and did so outside of the perview of the United Nations. Interestingly, Barack Obama confidant and co-sponsor of ZDERA, came up with a new piece of legislation this year that would extend the economic sanctions against Zimbabwe, called
ZTDERA or the Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2010, S. 3297 of the 111th US Congress (Senate). Also see (TalkZimbabwe)
US senator introduces Zimbabwe Sanctions Repeal Act, by Philip Murombedzi, and (NewZimbabwe)
Sweden breaks ranks over EU sanctions, Staff Reporter. Also see
US Bill to repeal Zimbabwe sanctions by Staff Reporters.
Check out Stephen Gowans' article on these revelations here:
US Senator Comes Clean On Zimbabwe Sanctions, reproduced on
NewZimbabwe.com here.
From the Senator's page at senate.gov:
INHOFE INTRODUCES ZIMBABWE SANCTIONS REPEAL ACT
Contacts: Jared Young 202-224-5762
Kathryn Junk 202-224-1282
August 5, 2010
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today introduced the Zimbabwe Sanctions Repeal Act of 2010. This new legislation will lift U.S. economic sanctions originally imposed on the African nation of Zimbabwe in 2001, and restore the country’s economy and aide in the nation’s transition to democracy.
In 2001, economic sanctions were imposed against Zimbabwe as a result of President Robert Mugabe’s oppressive leadership and fiscally irresponsible programs that collapsed the economy. These sanctions specifically directed the U.S. to oppose and vote against any extension of loans, credit, or guarantees to the Government of Zimbabwe as well as any debt cancellation or reduction owed by the Government of Zimbabwe to the United States or any international financial institution.
As a result of a 2008 power-sharing agreement engineered by the Southern African Development Community and the United States, Mugabe remains as President, but 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 reemerging. Repealing the 2001 sanctions will allow the Zimbabwe economy to recover fully and assist in its process of transition to democracy.
“I am pleased that the African nation of Zimbabwe continues to recover under the new power-sharing leadership set by both the United States and the Southern African Development Community,” said Inhofe.
“I commend the efforts of the power-sharing government there as they have reduced inflation and improved GDP and basic government services like medicine, education, and transportation. It is my hope that my legislation will help Zimbabwe return to being called the ‘Breadbasket of Africa’ and continue on the road to democracy.”
Now there is some rewriting of history in this statement. For instance:
In 2001, economic sanctions were imposed against Zimbabwe as a result of President Robert Mugabe’s oppressive leadership and fiscally irresponsible programs that collapsed the economy.
The problem with that statement, is that by late 2001, the economy had not yet collapsed. So there is a temporal dissonance with that statement. The dollar did not collapse, and the trade surplus did not collapse, and tobacco exports did not decline, until the year 2002, when ZDERA put a credit freeze on the Zimbabwean government, as this statement acknowledges. In fact during the year 2001, trade surplus and tobacco exports GREW.
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Tobacco (US$ m) 548.8 594.1 434.6 321.3 226.7 203.8 206.9
Trade Deficit (US$) -295.6 -322.5 18.2 108.3 305.2 387.9 231.3
Source: Table 1: Zimbabwe - Key economic indicators, 2000–2007
Labels: JIM INHOFE, MDC, NEOCOLONIALISM, SANCTIONS, ZDERA, ZTDERA
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COMMENT - Stunning. See also Swedish ambassador Sten Rylander's recanting on economic sanctions
here.US senator introduces Zimbabwe Sanctions Repeal Act
By: By Philip Murombedzi
Posted: Wednesday, August 18, 2010 3:29 am
A UNITED STATES senator has introduced new legislation aimed at lifting illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the United States.
Republican Senator
Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma says Zimbabwe's inclusive Government has made tremendous progress and there was no longer need for the illegal embargo -- the so-called Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (or Zidera).
Mr Inhofe, who is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced the Zimbabwe Sanctions Repeal Act of 2010 last week to reverse Zidera.
"This new legislation will lift U.S. economic sanctions originally imposed on the African nation of Zimbabwe in 2001, and restore the country’s economy," read a statement on his website.
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The Senator also revealed that the sanctions were not targeted as the US and Britain wants the world to believe. He revealed that the US had blocked extension of loans, credit or guarantees to Zimbabwe as well as cancellation or reduction of debt owed to the IMF and World Bank.
"In 2001, economic sanctions were imposed against Zimbabwe. ... These sanctions specifically directed the US to oppose and vote against any extension of loans, credit, or guarantees to the Government of Zimbabwe as well as any debt cancellation or reduction owed by the Government of Zimbabwe to the United States or any international financial institution.
Mr Inhofe said it was time to lift sanctions against Zimbabwe as the inclusive Governmenty has introduced "democratic freedoms".
"As a result of a 2008 power-sharing agreement engineered by the Southern African Development Community and the United States, Mugabe remains as President, but 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 reemerging.
"Repealing the 2001 sanctions will allow the Zimbabwe economy to recover fully and assist in its process of transition to democracy."
The Republican Senator added that he hoped Zimbabwe will regain its leading status in the region.
"It is my hope that my legislation will help Zimbabwe return to being called the ‘Breadbasket of Africa’... "
Senator Inhofe has criticised President Barack Obama for what he terms "failure to demonstrate leadership"; especially over the BP disaster.
SANCTIONS UNHELPFUL
Meanwhile, outgoing Swedish Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Sten Rylander said yesterday that sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe should be lifted immediately as they are not serving any good.
Mr Rylander said he was saddened to note that the illegal embargo remained in place.
He said a lot of effort was being made both in Europe and the United States to ensure the sanctions were removed.
"A lot of things are happening in different capitals in Brussels, London and Washington because we can’t maintain the so-called sanctions for long. I told the Vice President that I hope that something will happen sooner rather than later," he said.
Mr Rylander said the MDC-T’s disengagement from Government last year was a major setback to negotiations between Zimbabwe and the European Union.
"Last year when Sweden was heading the presidency of EU, I set up a team to deal with this issue. Unfortunately, MDC-T decided to disengage from Government and we lost momentum because we could not have someone from Government to talk to," he said.
Mr Rylander said Zimbabwe was on the right path following the formation of the inclusive Government last year.
Labels: JIM INHOFE, MDC, NEOCOLONIALISM, SANCTIONS, ZDERA
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Repeal ZDERA - Support S.3722 and End Economic Sanctions Against Zimbabwe
Help Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma pass S. 3722,
Zimbabwe Sanctions Repeal Act of 2010, which will repeal the economic sanctions that have cost the lives of so many Zimbabwean people. This act specifically intends to repeal ZDERA, which freezes the Zimbabwean government's lines of credit and prevents international trade. This act has caused the collapse of the Zimbabwean economy from the year 2002 onwards.
The Zimbabwean people deserve better than economic sanctions. Stand up, and contact your Senator and Representative, and let them know you've got their back.
Here is the text of the bill
S.3722 -- Zimbabwe Sanctions Repeal Act of 2010 (Introduced in Senate - IS)
S 3722 IS
111th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3722
To repeal the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
August 5, 2010
Mr. INHOFE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A BILL
To repeal the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Zimbabwe Sanctions Repeal Act of 2010'.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe and leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, has ruled Zimbabwe for 30 years.
(2) During President Mugabe's regime, Zimbabwe has gone from being the `bread basket' of Africa to the world's fastest shrinking economy.
(3) In 2000, the Government of Zimbabwe initiated a farmland redistribution program, designed to reallocate foreign commercial farmland to poor and middle-class citizens of Zimbabwe.
(4) The redistribution program led to the confiscation of industrial, fertile, and previously settled lands, led to mass chaos, undermined the Constitution of Zimbabwe, and caused more than 400,000 farmers to lose their homes and livelihoods.
(5) In 2005, President Mugabe implemented a project known as Operation Murambatsvina, translated into English as Operation `Clean Out the Filth'.
(6) Under Operation Clean Out the Filth, the Mugabe regime bulldozed and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses, leading to an estimated 700,000 internally displaced persons.
(7) The majority of the people of Zimbabwe live on less than one dollar a day.
(8) The current unemployment rate in Zimbabwe is 95 percent, which has forced an estimated 3,000,000 of the people of Zimbabwe, a quarter of the overall population, to migrate to neighboring countries.
(9) All of those actions by President Mugabe's regime have caused significant economic hardships that persist in Zimbabwe.
(10) Presidential elections were held on March 29, 2008, between President Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change.
(11) Tsvangirai won 47.8 percent of the vote, compared to President Mugabe's 43.2 percent.
(12) Because Tsvangirai failed to achieve 50 percent of the votes needed to win outright, a run-off was scheduled for June 27, 2008.
(13) President Mugabe declared that, regardless of the election outcome, he would not relinquish power, and directed a crackdown on opposition parties, stating, `Only God, who appointed me, will remove me'.
(14) As many as 400 members and supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change were killed during the run-off campaign period.
(15) Tsvangirai dropped out of the run-off race, and took refuge in the Embassy of the Netherlands, stating that he could not ask people to vote `when that vote could cost them their lives'.
(16) The violence surrounding this unfair election came to the world's attention and specifically to that of the Southern African Development Community, compromised of 15 southern African countries, and the United States.
(17) Pressure from the Southern African Development Community and the United States led to the creation of a power-sharing agreement between Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change called the Global Political Agreement, which was signed into effect on September 15, 2008.
(18) The Parliament of Zimbabwe amended the Constitution of Zimbabwe to allow for the creation of the power-sharing government.
(19) Mugabe remained President and Tsvangirai was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe on February 11, 2009, and Tendai Biti was appointed Minister of Finance by Prime Minister Tsvangirai.
(20) Since the appointment of Biti as Minister of Finance, the economy of Zimbabwe has seen remarkable recovery in a short period of time. For example, to combat inflation, Minister Biti abandoned the currency of Zimbabwe and adopted foreign currencies, including the United States dollar and South African rand, and subsequently reduced the previous inflation rate of 15,000,000,000 percent in 2008 to 5.1 percent one year later.
(21) During Biti's time as Minister of Finance, the real gross domestic product of Zimbabwe also improved, increasing from negative 14.4 percent in 2008 to a positive 3.7 percent in 2009.
(22) The salaries of government employees have also been reissued, allowing those employed in basic government services like medicine, education, and transportation to return to work.
(23) The overall economy and well-being of the citizens of Zimbabwe have made tremendous advances since Tsvangirai and the Movement for Democratic Change have gained power-sharing authority in the Government of Zimbabwe.
(24) In 2001, the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-99; 22 U.S.C. 2151 note) was enacted into law in the United States, imposing sanctions on the Mugabe regime and members of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front.
(25) Section 4(c) of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 specifically directs the United States Executive Director to each international financial institution to oppose and vote against any extension by the institution of any loan, credit, or guarantee to the Government of Zimbabwe or any cancellation or reduction of indebtedness owed by the Government of Zimbabwe to the United States or any international financial institution.
(26) In order to restore fully the economy of Zimbabwe and assist in the process of transition to democracy, the sanctions imposed under the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 and burdening the power-sharing government in Zimbabwe must be repealed.
SEC. 3. REPEAL OF ZIMBABWE DEMOCRACY AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY ACT OF 2001.
The Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-99; 22 U.S.C. 2151 note) is repealed.
Labels: JIM INHOFE, SANCTIONS, ZDERA, ZIMBABWE
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