(STICKY) (NEWZIMBABWE) Vote flawed, sanctions to remain: US
19/08/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter I Agencies
COMMENT - The Conversation We Need To Have
This is completely anti-democratic. The Zimbabwean people have spoken, and they don't want De Beers to steal their diamonds. If the US government can choose to ignore the outcome of democratic elections abroad, perhaps SADC should ignore the outcome of American elections.
In other words, the United States Government is full of sh*t. Either you abide by the expressed will of the Zimbabwean people, or you come out and openly say that you only accept an outcome that is in agreement with your Rothschild (Anglo-American De Beers, Rio Tinto, etc.) and Rockefeller (ExxonMobil, Chevron, JPMorgan Chase, Chiquita/United Fruit, etc.) paymasters.
It is extremely ironic, that one of the consequences of being placed under sanctions, is that you lose your right to bribe American politicians. I quote from (NEWZIMBABWE) US congressmen tied to illegal $3.4m Mugabe lobby: "It's not illegal for public officials to meet with sanctioned Zimbabweans, but individuals cannot provide lobbying services to those subjected to U.S. sanctions, prosecutors said."
This is not democracy, this is about exploitation of African resources by the old Rothschild (De Beers) owned corporations that stole African (and South American and Asian) resources under colonialism and Apartheid/UDI. - MrK
THE United States said Monday that
it believes the July 31 elections were flawed adding it does not plan to loosen sanctions against Zimbabwe until there are
signs of change in the country.
"The United States stands by our assessment that these elections, while relatively peaceful, did not represent a credible expression of the will of the Zimbabwean people due to serious flaws throughout the electoral process," said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.
So I guess the United States is the ultimate arbitrator of whether countries can have access to the IMF and World Bank and other banking functions. Why not just declare the American president presidetn of all countries in the world. Democracy, 'American style'. - MrK
"We have made clear to the government of Zimbabwe and the region that a change in U.S. sanctions policy will occur only in the context of credible, transparent and peaceful reforms that reflect the will of the Zimbabwean people."
Unlike violence free democratic elections. - MrK
The statement appeared to be a response to an appeal by regional leaders during a SADC summit in Lilongwe, Malawi, where they backed President Robert Mugabe’s re-election.
The veteran leader, who has ruled the country since independence in 1980, is set to be sworn in on Thursday, extending his 33-year rule by at least another term.
Opposition MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, refused to concede defeat, dismissing the vote a huge farce. He has also dropped his court challenge saying he doubted he would get a fair hearing.
And taking their, cue from the out-going premier, Western nations, which maintain sanctions against the country, also said the election was not credible although observers from the African Union and the SADC region passed the vote as peaceful and free.
Speaking after the Lilongwe meeting, SADC chair and Malawi President Joyce Banda urged the West to drop the sanctions which Mugabe and his Zanu PF party blame for Zimbabwe’s economic problems.
"I believe Zimbabwe deserves better, Zimbabweans have suffered enough," said Banda.
But Psaki said for now the sanctions would remain although it was "feasible" that the U.S. could review them if conditions in the country improved.
The US imposed sanctions on Mugabe in 2003 alleging vote fraud and human rights failings. The sanctions, which ban more than 250 Zimbabwean individuals and companies from doing business with the United States, were extended in 2009.
However, soon after his nomination as Secretary of State, John Kerry wrote to Mugabe outlining the U.S. position on elections and the opportunities it provided for the country.
The U.S. had said it was willing to roll back sanctions and expand trade and investment if elections were conducted in a free and credible environment.
Labels: BARACK OBAMA, HILLARY CLINTON, NEOCOLONIALISM, RUSS FEINGOLD, SANCTIONS, ZDERA
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Zim’s natural resources belong to Zimbabweans — Speaker
Saturday, 23 July 2011 02:00
The Speaker of Parliament Mr
Lovemore Moyo and Clerk of Parliament Mr Austin Zvoma recently toured the United States of America to get an appreciation of how the US Congress and Senate conduct business in terms of structure and administration. Our US correspondent Obi Egbuna (OE) caught up with Mr Moyo (LM) on this and more.
OE: Mr Speaker, let me begin by thanking you for granting me the opportunity to have this interview. Can you please give an overview of the aims and objectives of this trip?
LM: Thank you. First and foremost last year I, on behalf of Zimbabwe's Parliament, established a memorandum of understanding with the President of the National Democratic Institute Mr Kenneth Wollack for the purpose of engaging one of the most influential groupings in the US Political Think Tank Sector.
I also wanted to come and appreciate the Legistative Processes in Washington in connection with how the US Congress and Senate manouevre and conduct their daily activity.
The main point of concentration is on the structure and administrative bodies. It was for this reason that I led this delegation and felt it was also of paramount importance that Mr Austin Zvoma our Clerk of Parliament accompanied me.
OE: In June 2009 during a photo opportunity in the White House, the US President Barack Obama stated to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai that at no point during the existence of Zimbabwe's Inclusive Government would his administration directly finance any of the ministries controlled by any of the three political parties that make up the Inclusive Government. What they would do instead was to send financial assistance through NGOs.
However, in September of 2009 while he was chairing the US Senate Sub Committee on Africa Senator Russell Feingold, together with the US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Ambassador Johnnie Carson stated a decision had been reached that the US government would indeed finance the Office of Prime Minister Tsvangirai.
How do you feel about these overtures, which can be perceived as attempts to manipulate the political differences between the three political parties that make up the GPA/Inclusive Government present a problem?
LM: If there are contradictions concerning US Foreign Policy in terms of the pronouncement either by the President or his subordinates, I may not be in a position to adequately respond to that. However, after I had an engagement with the US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Ambassador Charles Ray just last month in Harare, I was informed it was US policy not to fund any political party.
They will fund any democratic process or activity that has been embarked on by civic society as you correctly stated that President Obama voiced those exact sentiments. That is exactly what I was told. That is their exact policy of engagement not only with Zimbabwe but other African countries as well.
Therefore if anything contrary to that has taken place in particular in relationship to the funding of the Prime Minster's office, I have not been fully briefed and am not in the picture in terms of the specific amount of funding or targeted areas of funding pertaining to this matter.
OE: How does the rising tide of Zimbabweans on the ground at the grass root level concerning indigenisation and the lifting of US-EU sanctions on Zimbabwe affect the political roadmap, the constitution being crafted as we speak and the political direction moving into the future?
LM: I think first and foremost it must be understood that the natural resources of Zimbabwe are for the country and people of Zimbabwe. That point is fundamental, therefore is must be respected because it is non-negotiable, what then happens with those natural resources specifically in terms extraction and exploitation of those minerals is another level of terms of looking at the capacity of the country itself.
When it comes to extracting the resources themselves for the benefit of the entire nation and whether individuals amongst the indigenous can sufficiently extract resources for the collective benefit and empowerment of the country.
In the absence of that certainly there's nothing with any investment policy where once again those facilitators coming in embark on programmes for the benefit of the country and people first. But we must strongly emphasise to them that because the resources belong to Zimbabwe, Zimbabweans must be the main beneficiaries.
How that is linked to the attitude as it pertains to US-EU sanctions and other restrictive measures against Zimbabwe, the difficulty is that is a foreign policy issue.
This means it is a US problem to find ways how do they deal with the GPA/Inclusive Government and Sadc who stand on one accord concerning this matter. There is a mechanism in the Sadc where the Heads of State as guarantors of the GPA/inclusive government have made this a priority.
We also have an internal mechanism in the GPA where we have a committee that goes with the US and EU in relationship to this matter. Because it is foreign policy it is hard for Zimbabweans to tell anyone when the policy will end, we just will continue to intensify the dialogue with that aim in mind.
OE: Through the process of engagement with the US-EU alliance, how has this impacted on Zimbabwe's strategic approach to defending its sovereignty?
LM: I think there is no debate on the sovereignty of our nation, we all agree each nation must guard against any attempt on its own sovereignty, I am quite confident this is understood by Zimbabweans across the board.
While I say that when it comes to the multi-national forces and the countries we have been discussing it becomes an issue for further engagement.
These issues will only be completely resolved through dialogue between Zimbabweans and those who have voiced criticism and reservation concerning resolving these issues.
In my view we have many outstanding issues as part of the Global Political Agreement, this is why Sadc has pronounced these issues through South Africa's President Jacob Zuma, who have insisted that all three political parties that make up the GPA/Inclusive Government rapidly resolve these issues.
The issues include the security sector reform, media reform. We as Zimbabweans must implement what we can control and continue to engage forces on the matters we do not control.
I believe this is the way forward, this way we can take off what is in our power so the world can see when it is external forces that stand in the way of Zimbabwe's progress because we have done our part.
OE: What in your opinion in the role of Zimbabweans and Africans in the diaspora at the grassroots level in the fight to lift US-EU sanctions and supporting the indigenisation efforts on the ground in Zimbabwe?
LM: The Zimbabweans and Africans in the diaspora must understand the US-EU sanctions and the manner in which they have been imposed, this way they will be in the best position to oppose these measures. What I am seeing is a degree of difficulty amongst Zimbabweans and our friends in fully understanding the sanctions and the challenges they present.
I have travelled to Europe and the US and am convinced if our citizenry take up this fight when the forces who have kept the sanctions in place ask them to respond to specific concerns as it relates to this policy it hurts this cause.
I met the US Secretary for African Affairs Johnnie Carson and he stressed free and fair elections, allowing all political parties the latitude to campaign freely and all outside observers to come. I stress we encourage Zimbabweans and Africans outside the country to voice their concerns and optimistically speaking I hope the result is one mobilised and united voice.
There is no substitution to dialogue because at this moment they don't see this matter from that unifed point of view. I cannot and will not make specific pronouncements pertaining to the sanctions but encourage more intense dialogue amongst Zimbabweans and Africans pertaining not just to the sanctions but all matters aimed at helping Zimbabwe improve both in the short term and long term.
OE: Thank you for your time and have a safe trip home
LM: Thanks once again and it was good to be interviewed by a Herald Correspondent in the US.
Labels: HILLARY CLINTON, LOVEMORE MOYO, MDC, MINING, NATIONALISATION, RUSS FEINGOLD
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Russ Feingold has just lost his Senate seat. I wonder what that will to do
ZTDERA and the continuation of economic sanctions against Zimbabwe. Also see Stephen Gowans article,
US Senator comes clean on Zimbabwe sanctions.
From ZTDERA:
`SEC. 4. SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY.
`(d) Multilateral Financing Conditions- The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States executive director to each international financial institution to oppose any extension by the respective institution of any loan, credit, or guarantee to the Government of Zimbabwe unless the proposed extension meets the following conditions:
`(1) There are sufficient controls for transparency and international oversight of the use of relevant funds.
`(2) Relevant funds, in cases where the international financial institutions are providing direct funding to or through the Government of Zimbabwe, will not be administered through or in coordination with--
`(A) ministries that have not demonstrated a commitment to reform and responsible fiscal management; or
`(B) the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, unless there are sufficient guarantees and a pattern of evidence that governance problems within the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe have been addressed such that relevant funds will not be redirected for extra-legal purposes.
`(3) Relevant funds will not be administered by or directly accessible to individuals or financial institutions sanctioned by the United States.
`(e) Notification-
`(1) IN GENERAL- If the United States votes in favor of any loan, credit, or guarantee to the Government of Zimbabwe by an international financial institution, the Secretary of the Treasury, in coordination with the Secretary of State, shall notify the appropriate congressional committees within 30 days of such vote and provide appropriate information on such vote pertaining to the conditions in subsection (d).
`(2) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED- In this subsection, the term `appropriate congressional committees' means--
`(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and
`(B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Financial Services, and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives.
`(f) Waiver- The President may waive the provisions in subsection (d) and (e) if the President determines that it is in the national interest of the United States to do so.'.
Also, this bill stipulates how Zimbabwe should be allowed to trade diamonds.
SEC. 9. ACTIONS TO STOP ILLEGAL DIAMOND FLOWS.
(a) Findings- Congress makes the following findings:
(1) According to credible human rights organizations, the armed forces of Zimbabwe continue to exert control over diamond mines in the Marange district of eastern Zimbabwe, and have committed horrific abuses against miners and local residents, including extrajudicial killings, beatings, and torture.
[Too bad the South African delegate of the Kimberley Process found no such violations, which is not even the main reason why Zimbabwe has been declared in compliance with the Kimberley Process. - MrK]
(2) A review mission of the Kimberley Process traveled to Zimbabwe from June 30 to July 4, 2009, and documented extensive smuggling of diamonds and abuses against civilians by the police and army forces of the Government of Zimbabwe. The review mission reportedly found there to be `credible indications of significant non-compliance' by the Government of Zimbabwe with the minimum standards of the Kimberley Process.
(3) On December 11, 2009, the United States Senior Advisor to the Permanent Representative of the United States to the 64th Session of the General Assembly stated that the United States has `serious concerns about Zimbabwe's non-compliance with the minimum requirements of the Kimberley Process, particularly relating to smuggling and grave violence in and around the Marange diamond fields'.
(4) The army and police forces of the Government of Zimbabwe continue to serve primarily as instruments of ZANU-PF, and their illegal activities involving diamonds continue to fuel the efforts of ZANU-PF to undermine democratic processes and institutions.
(b) Sense of Congress- In order to promote respect for the rule of law and to prevent further human rights violations by state security forces in Zimbabwe, it is the sense of Congress that, until the Secretary of State can certify that Zimbabwe is in full compliance with the Kimberley Process, the President should--
(1) press for Zimbabwe to be suspended from the Kimberley Process diamond certification scheme;
(2) work with Zimbabwe's neighbors as well as with regional organizations to help stop the flow of diamonds mined in Zimbabwe from crossing their shared border; and
(3) seek to identify and prepare sanctions pursuant to Executive Order 13391 on individuals and entities funding efforts to undermine democratic processes and institutions in Zimbabwe through illegal activities involving diamonds.
[Russ Feingold, you sanctimonious liar. You know fully well that there are economic sanctions against the country of Zimbabwe (Section 4C of the bill you co-sponsored, the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001, from which part of Section 4d of this bill is lifted, maintains economic sanctions against The Government Of Zimbabwe. - MrK]
Executive Order 13391:
Office of Foreign Assets Control, U.S. Department of the Treasury
ZIMBABWE: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT U.S. ECONOMIC SANCTIONS -
An overview of O.F.A.C. Regulations involving Sanctions against Zimbabwe
INTRODUCTION - On March 7, 2003, as a result of actions and policies by certain
members of the government of Zimbabwe, and its supporters to undermine
democratic institutions and processes in Zimbabwe, President Bush issued
Executive Order 13288 imposing sanctions against specifically identified
individuals and entities in Zimbabwe. On November 23, 2005, the President
issued a new Executive Order superseding E.O. 13288. The new Executive Order
(E.O. 13391) expands the list of sanctions targets to include immediate family
members of any designated individual of the Zimbabwe sanctions, as well as those
persons providing assistance to any sanctions target. Providing statutory authority
for these sanctions is the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ("IEEPA"),
the National Emergencies Act and sections 301 of title 3 of the United States
Code.
This fact sheet provides general information about the Zimbabwe sanctions
program imposed by the new Executive Order and administered by the U.S. Treasury
Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC").
PROHIBITED TRANSACTIONS - Executive Order 13391 prohibits U.S. persons,
wherever located, or anyone in the United States from engaging in any
transactions with any person, entity or organization found to: 1.) be
undermining democratic institutions and processes in Zimbabwe; 2.) have
materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or
technological support to these entities; 3.) be or have been an immediate family
member of a sanctions target; or 4.) be owned, controlled or acting on behalf of
a sanctions target. Persons, entities and organizations referenced in Annex A
of the Executive Order are all incorporated into OFAC's list of Specially
Designated Nationals (SDNs). Prohibited transactions include, but are not
limited to, exports (direct and indirect), imports (direct and indirect), trade
brokering, financing and facilitation, as well as most financial transactions.
Attempts to evade or avoid these sanctions are also prohibited. These
prohibitions also extend to any person, organization or entity found to be
owned, controlled or acting on behalf of any Zimbabwe entity included on the SDN
list.
Under the Executive Order, U.S. persons are also required to block any property
of any Zimbabwe Specially Designated Nationals that is in the United States,
that comes into the United States, or that comes under the control of a U.S.
person wherever located. The term property includes, but is not limited to,
money, checks, drafts, bank accounts, securities and other financial
instruments, letters of credit, bills of sales, bills of lading and other
evidences of title, wire transfers, merchandise and goods. Blockable property
also includes any property in which there is any interest of a Zimbabwe SDN,
including direct, indirect, future or contingent, and tangible or intangible
interests.
Foreign branches and representative offices of U.S. companies, as well as U.S.
branches and representative offices of foreign companies are considered U.S.
persons for purposes of these prohibitions.
Transactions that do not involve any of the Zimbabwe SDNs, or any person or
entity believed to be owned, controlled or acting on behalf of a Zimbabwe SDN
are not prohibited by the new Executive Order.
Criminal fines for violating the Executive Order or regulations to be issued
pursuant to the Executive Order may range up to the greater of $500,000 or twice
the pecuniary gain per violation for an organization, or up to the greater of
$250,000 or twice the pecuniary gain per violation for an individual.
Individuals may also be imprisoned for up to 10 years for a criminal violation.
Knowingly making false statements or falsifying or concealing material facts
when dealing with OFAC in connection with matters under its jurisdiction is a
criminal offense. In addition, civil penalties of up to $11,000 per violation
may be imposed administratively.
If you have information regarding possible violations of these sanctions, please
call the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control at 202/622-2430.
Your call will be handled confidentially.
____________________________________________
Executive Order 13391 issued effective 12:01 eastern standard time on November 23, 2005:
BLOCKING PROPERTY OF ADDITIONAL PERSONS UNDERMINING DEMOCRATIC PROCESSES OR
INSTITUTIONS IN ZIMBABWE
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the
laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency
Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies
Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code,
and in order to take additional steps with respect to the continued actions and
policies of certain persons who undermine Zimbabwe's democratic processes and
with respect to the national emergency described and declared in Executive Order
13288 of March 6, 2003,
I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, hereby order:
Section 1. The Annex to Executive Order 13288 of March 6, 2003, is
replaced and superseded in its entirety by the Annex to this order.
Sec. 2. Section 6 of Executive Order 13288 is renumbered as section 8.
Sections 1 through 5 of Executive Order 13288 are replaced with new sections 1
through 7 as follows:
"Section 1. (a) Except to the extent provided in section 203(b)(1),
(3), and (4) of IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1702(b)(1), (3), and (4)), and in regulations,
orders, directives, or licenses that may be issued pursuant to this order, and
notwithstanding any contract entered into or any license or permit granted prior
to the effective date of this order, all property and interests in property of
the following persons, that are in the United States, that hereafter come within
the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or
control of United States persons, including their overseas branches, are blocked
and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in:
(i) the persons listed in the Annex to this order; and
(ii) any person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in
consultation with the Secretary of State:
(A) to have engaged in actions or policies to undermine Zimbabwe's
democratic processes or institutions;
(B) to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial,
material, or technological support for, or goods or services in support of, such
actions or policies or any person whose property and interests in property are
blocked pursuant to this order;
(C) to be or have been an immediate family member of any person whose
property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order; or
(D) to be owned or controlled by, or acting or purporting to act for or
on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property and interests in
property are blocked pursuant to this order.
(b) I hereby determine that the making of donations of the type of
articles specified in section 203(b)(2) of IEEPA (50 U.S.C. 1702(b)(2)) by, to,
or for the benefit of any person whose property and interests in property are
blocked pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section would seriously impair my
ability to deal with the national emergency declared in this order, and I hereby
prohibit such donations as provided by paragraph (a) of this section.
(c) The prohibitions in paragraph (a) of this section include but are
not limited to (i) the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods,
or services by, to, or for the benefit of any person whose property and
interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order, and (ii) the receipt
of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such
person.
Sec. 2. (a) Any transaction by a United States person or within the
United States that evades or avoids, has the purpose of evading or avoiding, or
attempts to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is
prohibited.
(b) Any conspiracy formed to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this
order is prohibited.
Sec. 3. For the purposes of this order:
(a) the term "person" means an individual or entity;
(b) the term "entity" means a partnership, association, trust, joint venture,
corporation, group, subgroup, or other organization; and
(c) the term "United States person" means any United States citizen, permanent
resident alien, entity organized under the laws of the United States or any
jurisdiction within the United States (including foreign branches), or any
person in the United States.
Sec. 4. For those persons whose property and interests in property are
blocked pursuant to this order who might have a constitutional presence in the United
States, I find that, because of the ability to transfer funds or other assets
instantaneously, prior notice to such persons of measures to be taken pursuant
to this order would render these measures ineffectual. I therefore determine
that, for these measures to be effective in addressing the national emergency
declared in this order, there need be no prior notice of a listing or
determination made pursuant to section 1(a) of this order.
Sec. 5. The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of
State, is hereby authorized to take such actions, including the promulgation of
rules and regulations, and to employ all powers granted to the President by
IEEPA, as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this order. The
Secretary of the Treasury may redelegate any of these functions to other
officers and agencies of the United States Government, consistent with
applicable law. All agencies of the United States Government are hereby
directed to take all appropriate measures within their authority to carry out
the provisions of this order and, where appropriate, to advise the Secretary of
the Treasury in a timely manner of the measures taken.
Sec. 6. The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of
State, is hereby authorized to determine, subsequent to the issuance of this
order, that circumstances no longer warrant the inclusion of a person in the
Annex to this order and that the property and interests in property of that
person are therefore no longer blocked pursuant to section 1(a) of this order.
Sec. 7. This order is not intended to create, nor does it create, any right,
benefit, or privilege, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in
equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies,
instrumentalities, or entities, its officers or employees, or any other person."
Sec. 3. This order is not intended to create, nor does it create, any right,
benefit, or privilege, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in
equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies,
instrumentalities, or entities, its officers or employees, or any other person.
Sec. 4. This order shall take effect at 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time,
November 23, 2005.
Sec. 5. This order shall be transmitted to the Congress and published in the
Federal Register.
____________________________________________________
This document is explanatory only and does not have the force of law. The
Executive Order and implementing regulations to be issued pertaining to Zimbabwe
contain the legally binding provisions governing the sanctions. This document
does not supplement or modify the Executive Order or regulations from a legal
perspective.
The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control also administers
sanctions programs involving the Balkans, Burma (Myanmar), Cuba, Diamond
Trading, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, North Korea, Sudan and Syria, as well as highly
enriched uranium, designated Terrorists and international Narcotics Traffickers,
Foreign Terrorist Organizations and designated foreign persons who have engaged
in activities relating to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. For
additional information about these programs or about sanctions involving
Zimbabwe, please contact the:
OFFICE OF FOREIGN ASSETS CONTROL
U.S. Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. - Annex
Washington, D.C. 20220
http://www.treas.gov/ofac
202/622-2490
date: 11/23/2005a
Labels: CORRUPTION, KIMBERLEY PROCESS, RUSS FEINGOLD, SANCTIONS, ZDERA, ZTDERA
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ZDERA: When American ‘T’ is not sweet
by Nathaniel Manheru
23/05/2010 00:00:00
THE conquest and opening up of North America to British occupation in the 17th Century was achieved through the exertion of various players: individuals, orthodoxy missionaries, heretics, fortune-seekers, hardcore criminals, companies, etc, etc.
Always couched in the language of gushing divinity and wonderfully good intentions, this enterprise of subduing and despoiling local Indians was, quite naturally, a bloody affair whose justification lay in bringing "civilisation" and "good news" to the heathens. It was no irony to Albion that "good news" flew to natives as piercing projectiles of hot lead or cannon balls, indeed visited them as fire and brimstone from the maxim gun.
Colonial lore
Those to be civilised had to be killed first, Britain’s strange kindness which repeatedly comes through in colonial lore. In 1703, soon after the slaughter of Pequot Indians, a colonial soldier, prompted by a clergyman, wrote: "Sometimes the scripture declareth women and children must perish with their parents." If you think this was some freak sentiment, listen to Massachusetts Bay Company. Founded in 1620 to herald corporatised British imperialism, the Bay Company was no less ingenious in explaining such needful genocidal deaths of natives. Blending so well with this abiding ethos of impunity and nonchalance in the face of genocidal mass murder of native Indians - by arms, by diseases or as in the case of Barbados, by rum — the company’s governor [CEO in those days ruled the main!], John Winthrop, upon hearing the "good" news that a smallpox epidemic [imported by the invading British] was wiping out local Indians, was not slow in detecting and reading Divine Will in the ensuing tragedy. He remarked: "They [local Indians] are all dead of the small pox so as the Lord cleareth our title to what we possess". Imperialism has always draped its mission in divinity and high purpose.
Come over and help us!
But Massachusetts Bay Company is richer in significance. Its history furnishes mankind with an exemplum of seminal grim humour. It set on its seal a device which showed an Indian with a scroll above his head with the inscription: "Come over and help us." This was a benighted native’s call and plea to the white man, all written in perfect English! So the company could not have been an invader or killer. Reluctantly and with the humility of the wielder of a burdensome mission, it had harkened to an emergency call from "a thing most brutish", a benighted race of heathens. No iota of self-aggrandisement, no hurtful contact. Only selfless, puritanical zeal and piety as befits God’s chosen race! How different is this from a man and woman who goes to America with a sanctions draft bill for formalisation into America’s punitive arsenal? Come over and help us!
Colonial sense and sensibility
For many, all this belongs to history, which is what would seem to make the above paragraph some kind of gratuitous self-indulgence, a dabbling in superfluous memories from a bygone era. Yet few know that imperialism works through forced erasure for the colonised. Its trends and thoughts appear to have been a one-time oddity, long gone by and severely antiquated and therefore discarded. That is a grave error for the colonised. The imperial tradition has an abiding hold on western mind, politics and practices. It is a living tissue that permeates current (mal)practices. This seminal juxtaposition of cruelty and kindness, greed and piety, death and redemption then, persists and exists now, albeit manifesting itself through various and vexing permutations. The western mind, specifically Anglo-American mind, remains steeped in colonial sense and sensibility. One citation suffices. Bring me any one lynching statement of Zimbabwe by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, or by State Department which is not prefaced by long statistics of what Britain/America has done to help heathen natives in Zimbabwean: by way of health, food, clean water, education and, hey, good governance, democracy and human rights, and I will be prepared to give you a decolonised Britain or America. Yesterday it was ignorance and heathenism. Today it is poverty and underdevelopment. The white man’s burden may be changing with time and circumstances, but it runs through and through to the current interface, uninterrupted from the days of Captain Cook.
And now ZTDERA
This issue is a long tale whose telling is sure to outlast many moons, many lives, many ears. I will narrow it down to Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZTDERA) of 2010, the new law which presumptuous America - itself a British transplant – proposes for our country, Zimbabwe. Call it America’s sequel law under Democrats and their Obama.
How sweet America sips
This new law is packaged as an improved sequel to the notorious Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA) which America, then under the Republicans and their Bush, passed against Zimbabwe in 2001. So America has moved from Republican ZDERA to Democrats’ ZTDERA. The net gain is the mighty letter "T" which Obama’s Democrats, in their infinite wisdom, thought of adding to mark and reward the new situation we find ourselves in, by way of the Inclusive Government. Let’s test the Democrats’ "T" for sweetness.
And you, too, Brutus?
Here is a sample of the confusion which can easily visit an unsuspecting nation. The Southern Times, itself a joint venture publication between Governments of Zimbabwe and Namibia initially welcomed this so-called amendment to ZDERA, simply on the strength of some regime-change NGO which the editor may have read for direction. After a better wind, the editor "withdrew" his baffling editorial for a better one. But the damage had been done by a man who should know better. Then you have our Prime Minister who happened to have been in the US when the monstrous law was introduced and debated. He, too, welcomed it! Some very high-ranking MDC official and Cabinet Minister went as far as suggesting Cabinet must draft a supportive paper to the Fishmonger Group. My goodness, turning Zimbabwe’s Cabinet into a Committee of a strange association of equally strange imperial ambassadors? I hear the Fishmonger Group has since met and resolved that ZTDERA is indeed a good legal proposition which must be supported. Did this minister have anything to do with this decision of those who enjoy fish while sitting on Zimbabwe’s carrion? Come over and help us!
Sweetener for MDC-T
Of course it is not difficult to see why the divided MDC-T would welcome this monstrosity. Divided MDC-T, if truth be said. I happen to know a number of MDC-T officials who have taken a progressive stance against this latest American outrage, and have made this known to their Zanu (PF) counterparts. And recognition is due to DPM Mutambara for making the first official Government reaction to this thing of the disgraceful Obama, misled by his State Department under a woman who thinks President Mugabe snubbed her once upon a time when she visited us as America’s First Lady; misled by right-wing congressmen, a good number of whom wear my colour. ZTDERA’s so-called "Findings" include a paragraph which reads saccharine to the Prime Minister and Finance Minister: "Under the direction of the new Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, and Minister of Finance, Tendai Biti, both from the MDC, the transitional government in Zimbabwe has initiated a series of critical economic reforms, putting a stop to some of the quasi-fiscal activities of the previous administration, resuming salary payments to civil servants, and directing limited budget resources towards critical social protection services and infrastructure repairs." Yes, there is sweet tea in that paragraph of remarkable inaccuracies, innuendos and downright lies.
Playing divisive game in MDC-T
If Tsvangirai is "the new Prime Minister", who is the old one? And what is it which makes his premiership "new" but without making Biti’s ministerial appointment equally "new"? Surely they were appointed at the same time? Let us grant it that America will not recognise Mugabe or the Cabinet of Zimbabwe for making "new" policies. Why mention Tsvangirai and Biti in seeming apposition? Surely it would have sufficed to put everything under the "new Prime Minister" to whom America would want to see charge transfer unconditionally. Why upgrade his underling? Why mention in equal measure persons who have a hierachical relationship? A-haa, therein lies America’s poison. America envisages two competing leadership trajectories in the MDC-T, through the persons of Tsvangirai and Biti. It is remarkably revealing that the two get separate and competing reference at this time of seething rumours about their relationship, and that America has decided to enshrine this split leadership in her daft, sorry draft, law. It will be interesting to see whether name-mentioning in a bill is with precedent in the world history of law-making.
And now the real lies ...
But in which Zimbabwe does the Prime Minister and Finance Minister direct policy? And which policies have the two initiated? Why spring a lie for honest Biti? Spend a minute with him and Tendai will be quick to tell you that at the start of the Inclusive Government he did no more to the budget than what Chinamasa, as acting Finance Minister just before the Inclusive Government, presented to the nation. It was Chinamasa, not Biti, who introduced a basket of currencies as trading units at home. It was Chinamasa, not Biti, who dollarised earnings of civil servants. And much more. Further, honest Biti will tell you he found STERP already in place before his appointment, with his modest input being on governance issues to make the stabilisation plan speak to the times, as well as improve its appeal to governance-obsessed donors. So what is America talking about? And which salaries for civil servants? Empires do lie.
Barack Bush?
Read by illegitimacy, content and intention, there is no real difference between ZDERA and ZTDERA. That means no real policy shift between Republicans and Democrats, between George Bush and Barack Obama, indeed between America then and America now. A "T" is just a letter in the sanctions alphabet and let no one pontificate. Strange minds are inclined to tell us that 4(3) under "Statement of Policy" marks a departure. It allows "the promotion of trade by United States companies with Zimbabwe to stimulate the country’s economic growth and support the livelihoods of its people."
It’s very tempting to read it as a departure from previous orders prohibiting American companies from doing business with Zimbabwe. I hope you have not, gentle reader, missed the language of divinity and high purpose in that clause. What has Zimbabwe’s economic growth to do with the return of US companies? What has livelihoods of Zimbabwean people to do with US companies? Why did they leave in the first place if their anchor was the livelihoods and economic growth of Zimbabwe? Surely America has always told us its sanctions target Zanu (PF) people? And how does the collapse of Zimbabwean economy and livelihoods constitute "a continuing, extraordinary threat to US foreign policy"?
The fear of Chinese encroachment
The truth is that with the dragon (China) lurking on the continent and in Zimbabwe in particular, and against the background of the ensuing economic meltdown in that country, America has no choice but to modify its policy towards Zimbabwe, an ill-conceived policy which was beginning to pose a continuing, extraordinary threat to its interests in Zimbabwe and the sub-region. Besides, America had hoped for a short, sharp war with Zimbabwe whose Government was expected to collapse within a year of sanctions and subversion. It is remarkable that Zanu (PF) has been able to stretch America this far, including now under conditions of inclusivity. America cannot afford a longer conflict, which is why it is basically adjusting its costly and futile law to cut costs to itself, never for the high purpose of improving Zimbabwe’s economy and livelihoods.
Splitting the Zimbabwean person
Intentionally, ZTDERA seeks to divide Zimbabwe: by way of its people, by way of its parties, within its parties and by way of its Government. I have already referred to how this new law encourages divisive leadership big-headedness within the MDC-T, in line with America’s long-reached decision to take advantage of MDC-T’s leadership calendar to effect a change of guards at Harvest House. But much worse, through selective support to "reform-minded" ministries and departments, both the Zimbabwean Government and Zimbabwean person are split and partitioned. If America thinks Made is not reform-minded, while Chamisa is, the outcome of that beauty contest is that the Zimbabwean citizen is being told to seek ye the kingdom of ICT on an empty stomach! After all Christian America knows that man does not live on bread alone! Or if America thinks Mnangagwa is not good enough, while Coltart is, clearly the Zimbabwean citizen is supposed to echo the words attributed to an unnamed tribesman during the onslaught of colonisation, who was said to make the following plea to an invading colonial army: "Give me a Gospel for an assegai as the love of war has been taken out of my heart." Which economy ever grew from such partitioned, differential inputs? Clearly what is at issue here is not the Zimbabwean economy.
… and regime change
Thirdly, ZTDERA still upholds and pursues the regime change agenda. Significantly the new letter is a "T", not an "I" or a "U" for "inclusive" or "unity" Government. Obviously the divisive goals of the law make "unity" or "inclusivity" incongruous. The accent is on transition, but not to suggest the importance of elections, but rather the ephemerality of the present politics which clearly fall short of America’s foreign policy goals. Surely elections which must come as they have always done before, cannot be a marker of transition. If they were, then all democratic societies, America included, would have been perpetually transitional.
It is clear then that America is not agitating for just another election. It expects an election which changes the regime (read as bundle of rules structuring a society) of Zimbabwe as we have it, to ensure an outcome which coheres with American goals. This is why the law agitates for "security sector reforms" which America does not seem to know have become antiquated talk in the National Security Council.
Land, land, land, stupid
Lastly, ZTDERA is clear in its intention to reverse land reforms and re-introduce colonial property relations in the name of "private property rights." Surely at the global level, Zimbabwe’s natural resources are national private property which must not be violated by marauding states such as the United States of America? Why is international law permitting what it denounces under domestic law? The vehicle for rolling back land reforms is land audit and it does not need extra imagination to know what is good for America.
Still thy brother’s killer
So this is all that all those frenetic black Congressmen were trooping here for? Curiously, in the needless meetings which the President correctly ended up turning down, it was the African-African American who led the charge against an African Government. The irony is upheld when one realises the main sponsor of this latest outrage is still a black congressman. The irony gets particularly painful when one finds within our own ranks persons dangling a plaque eminently reading: "America, come and help us." Need we blame her for the lexicon of divinity and high purpose? Icho! The Herald
Labels: COLONIALISM, NEOCOLONIALISM, RUSS FEINGOLD, SANCTIONS, ZDERA, ZTDERA
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what’s left
Russ Feingold: Defending the top one percent from the bottom 99
Posted in Zimbabwe by gowans on May 15, 2010
US Senator Russ Feingold is displeased. The legislation he helped draft in 2001 to cripple Zimbabwe’s economy as punishment for the country’s land reform program, which redistributed the land of 4,000 settlers to 300,000 landless indigenous families, has been exposed for what it is: a major instrument in a program of economic warfare designed to restore the property of expropriated farmers and drive the land reform program’s champions, Zanu-PF, from government.
Feingold is counterpunching with new legislation which he hopes will prove less of a liability to US propaganda, which has misdirected blame for Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown to Zanu-PF policies. At the same time, the new legislation aims to strengthen the West’s agent on the ground, the Movement for Democratic Change.
By Stephen Gowans
New US legislation introduced by US Senator Russ Feingold to update a 2001 bill that has been used to cripple Zimbabwe’s economy is aimed at supporting members of Zimbabwe’s coalition government who support US goals of restoring the property rights of settlers, while pressuring land reform champions to step down from government posts.
The current legislation, ZDERA, the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, was passed into law in 2001 as an instrument to be employed in the program of ousting the Zanu-PF government. Zanu-PF, a merger of forces that had played the leading role in the country’s liberation from settler minority rule, provoked Western reaction when it rejected harsh conditions imposed by the IMF in the late 1990s and then introduced a fast-track land reform program. The land reform program expropriated settler farms without compensation, redistributing land to indigenous Zimbabweans. The beneficiaries of the program were over 300,000 previously landless families who were resettled on land previously owned by 4,000 farmers, mostly of British origin.
ZDERA, which blocked Zimbabwe’s access to loans, credits and debt relief from international financial institutions, plunged the country into an economic abyss. To bleed Zanu-PF of popular support, the United States, Britain, the European Union and other Western governments launched a propaganda offensive, blaming the ZDERA-induced economic meltdown on Zanu-PF mismanagement. At the same time, they backed the formation of a new opposition party, the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change), which brought together the settler community, trade unions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The MDC and its NGO partners have received generous assistance from Western governments and foundations, and have championed an agenda congruent with overseas investor rights and the interests of the settler community.
US Senator Russ Feingold has introduced new legislation to update a 2001 bill he co-wrote that has been used to cripple Zimbabwe’s economy. Feingold and others have tried to blame the effects of the 2001 bill, known as ZDERA, on Zanu-PF mismanagement.
Since the MDC’s formation in 2000 a virtual low-level civil war has convulsed the country, with the MDC, its civil society allies, and its Western backers seeking to oust Zanu-PF from power through electoral and extra-electoral means. Elections held in 2008 produced a parliament divided roughly evenly between Zanu-PF and the MDC (the MDC having fractured, by this point, into two factions.) Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the largest MDC faction, won the first round of voting in the presidential election, but failed to obtain a majority, forcing a runoff. Alleging that Zanu-PF partisans were using violence to intimidate his supporters, Tsvangirai withdrew from the ensuing runoff, effectively conceding the presidency to Robert Mugabe, the Zanu-PF candidate. This left the country divided, with neither party able to convincingly command the support of a majority. To avoid paralysis, the parties agreed to the formation of a coalition government. Mugabe would serve as president and Tsvangirai as prime minister.
For the MDC’s Western backers, the outcome was neither as good as desired, nor as bad as it could have been. MDC members were part of the cabinet, and therefore could affect policy, but Zanu-PF controlled the police and military, and therefore was in a position to block any attempted roll back of the party’s land reform program, as well as its (newly introduced) economic indigenization agenda. And it was precisely land reform and economic indigenization (a policy mandating majority ownership of the country’s enterprises by indigenous Zimbabweans) that Western governments bristled against.
Another minus from Washington and London’s point of view was the coalition government requirement that all members call for the lifting of sanctions. The official Western position, mimicked by the MDC, was that there were no sanctions, only targeted “restrictive measures” that exempted the population at large and punished a few key members of Zanu-PF. By denying the existence of sanctions, the West could blame Mugabe for the country’s economic turmoil, thereby providing Zimbabweans with a reason to turf Zanu-PF from government.
However, the West’s story wasn’t believable. ZDERA, with its obvious punitive implications for Zimbabwe’s economic welfare, could be pointed to as evidence of Washington’s hostility to Zimbabwe’s agenda of investing its liberation struggle with substantive content. (Zimbabweans want more than their own flag. They want control of their land and resources, too.) The ZDERA bill was readily available for all to see, in black and white, tangible evidence of the sanctions regime the United States denied existed. Requiring the MDC to climb aboard the anti-sanctions bandwagon, which already included the South African Development Community and the African Union, made the task of crippling Zimbabwe’s economy and blaming it on Mugabe all the more difficult.
Zimbabweans want more than their own flag. They want control of their land and resources, too.
All of this has given rise to the need to discard the discredited ZDERA, to remove an obvious target that critics of US foreign policy have been able to point to, to mobilize opposition to US economic warfare against Zimbabwe. The success of these critics has rankled Feingold, who whines that the attacks on ZDERA are nothing more than ”Mugabe’s propaganda” which allow Zanu-PF “to win local regional support.”
At the same time, the United States wants to step up assistance to the MDC, which, while part of the coalition government, is not in a strong enough position to roll back Zanu-PF’s land reforms. With the MDC now controlling some levers of government, the United States has the option of directing advice, material assistance and loans and credit to MDC-controlled ministries, freezing out ministries under Zanu-PF control.
Out of these requirements has come the Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act. The aim is to do exactly what ZDERA (which Feingold had had a hand in drafting) aims to do: strengthen the MDC and weaken Zanu-PF, in order to clear the way for the MDC to come to power to carry out the US agenda of restoring property rights.
It is no accident that Feingold’s new bill, and the statement accompanying its introduction, dwell on Zanu-PF’s “continued disrespect…for property rights,” a reference to the expropriation of settler farms and their redistribution to landless indigenous Zimbabweans. It’s no accident because that’s precisely what the new act, and ZDERA as well, is intended to overturn: the negation of private property rights to serve public policy goals, in this case, redress of an historical iniquity and recovery of indigenous sovereignty.
As the world’s hegemonic power, the United States has taken on the role of policing the globe to keep it safe for investors, bankers, bondholders and transnational corporations. In keeping with the domination of the US state by corporate executives, corporate lawyers, and investment bankers (i.e., people who own and control productive property), US foreign policy aims to keep the world open to foreign investment and trade and its riches in the hands of those who are already wealthy. This means, among other things, upholding private ownership claims to productive property, and defining as intolerable, even criminal, any violation of this principle. Expropriation of productive property, including of settler farms, especially where it is done without compensation, is a clear violation, (though the original expropriation of indigenous farmland at the point of a gun by European settlers merits no indemnification, apology, or corrective action by the global hegemon. Since Britain and the United States refused to assist in the redress of the original colonial expropriation — indeed, did all they could to hinder it — Zimbabweans took it upon themselves to remedy the wrong themselves. The United States polices the world on behalf of the property rights of those who are wealthy, not the dispossessed the wealthy robbed.)
US policy, then, brooks no abridgment of the right of individuals who currently hold productive property to continue to enjoy that property, and acts to vouchsafe their property against its being brought under public control, as socialist or communist governments may do, or being transferred to local business people (including landless families), as economic nationalist governments may do. The violation of the principle of private property by the 99 percent of the world that has none, has always been sufficient to arouse the hostility of the US government, which has always acted on behalf the remaining one percent. Feingold’s new bill is a continuation of this tradition.
Labels: LAND REFORM, NEOCOLONIALISM, RUSS FEINGOLD, ZDERA
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The fine print of US’ ‘amended’ sanctions
By Tichaona Zindoga
Nine years after the US imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe through the so-called Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, last week saw the tabling of the Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Bill before Congress.
ZDERA, enhanced by other emergency presidential powers, outlawed US state and private trade with Zimbabwe. It also instructed top US officials at multilateral lending institutions to veto Zimbabwe’s access to funds from or cancellation of indebtness, among other things.
The proposed law has been touted as a "softer" and more "flexible" version of ZDERA with some analysts like Zimbabwe’s Professor John Makumbe calling it "pragmatic".
Senator Russ Feingold, who sponsored ZDERA along with Senator Bill Frist, and with the support of the likes of Hillary Clinton, bounced back with the "Transition" Bill.
Feingold, partnered this time by Senators Johnny Isakson and John Kerry, says the "transition law" is an expression of staying true to his country’s "commitment to the Zimbabwean people in their struggle for peaceful democratic change".
Last Tuesday, Feingold, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, said: "This legislation gives the Obama administration the guidance and flexibility to press for badly needed reforms in Zimbabwe."
A Press release from the US Congress described it as "designed to help those parts of the transitional government and Parliament that demonstrate a firm commitment to democratic reform, while renewing and ramping up pressure on hardliners and the activities that sustain their abuses."
With Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, saying "This legislation seeks to give democratic reformers in Zimbabwe the chance to succeed," the fine print of the new legislation is not hard to decipher.
The new sanctions law will be "flexible", "pragmatic", and "softer" only to the extent of trying to facilitate the "transition" of MDC-T — referred to as "reformers" — from the inclusive Government to become the next singular government.
This is explained in the expression that the Transition Bill is in light of "evolving circumstances".
The inclusive Government formed last year between Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations via the September 2008 Global Political Agreement is one such "evolving circumstance" which ZDERA back in 2001 could not envision.
By implication, as the sanctions were meant to have a blanket influence on Government (then Zanu-PF), now that MDC is also in Government, it has also felt the heat of the sanctions.
That the party, and notably Finance Minister Tendai Biti, has complained of the negative effects of sanctions on Government business — which they denied all along — is on record.
This admission has since inspired the idea of a "partial" lifting of sanctions to allow for smooth operations in MDC-T-held ministries.
To this end, the proposed law is set to lift restrictions on assistance in the areas of health and education.
It will also "provide greater flexibility for the US to engage the international financial institutions, outlining new conditions for US support of any proposed assistance based on how it will be targeted and administered".
It will be noted that these areas of education, health and finance all fall directly under the two MDC formations.
Whether Feingold’s latest move is informed by his meeting with Minister Biti last year after the latter attended the Bretton Woods institutions’ spring meetings in Washington is an interesting possibility.
Apart from wanting to enhance MDC-T’s visibility and credibility to the public through underhand and illegal sponsorship (which ironically the US itself will outlaw), the US seeks to undermine Zimbabwe’s legislature and historic gains.
In undermining the country’s legislature, the US will "authorise technical assistance to reformist (read MDC-T) government ministries and to Parliament in its efforts to amend or repeal repressive legislation".
One could bet that some of the "repressive legislation" in the minds of the imperialist US points to compulsory land acquisition and the indigenisation and economic empowerment laws.
As a matter of fact, reversing land reform is one common goal of ZDERA and the Transition Bill as the latter seeks to "promote agricultural development as much as possible, while actively supporting steps to re-establish security of land tenure".
To the capitalist and imperialist, re-establishment of "security of land tenure" entails the reversal of a system that benefited about half a million households who were previously condemned to arid, inhospitable areas.
But Feingold seeks to go beyond such a deplorable and hideous motive.
By bloodying Zimbabwe’s diamonds — which have the potential to steer the economy from the malaise illegal Western sanctions brought it — the new law pushes for continued suffering of the people of Zimbabwe while the West in its feigned love act as a life support.
The "transition law" will "direct the (US) president to seek to address illegal diamond activities that are undermining democratic processes and institutions by pressing for Zimbabwe’s suspension from the Kimberley Process and exploring new targeted sanctions related to such activities".
According to the US, represented by Feingold, Zimbabwe’s exploitation of its natural resources is illegal because it is an activity that sustains the "hardliners".
As such, being denied an opportunity to benefit from the country’s God-given resources is the price Zimbabweans have to pay as the US is "renewing and ramping up pressure" on the "hardliners".
When a person like John Makumbe says he thinks that such an action "is the natural thing to do" and that "the Americans have realised they need to be pragmatic . . ." there is something entirely warped and offensively dishonest about it.
It is clear that while the latest move is according to Feingold a sign of America’s "commitment to the Zimbabwean people in their struggle for peaceful democratic change", there is nothing peaceful or democratic about it.
The US continues its unwarranted war with Zimbabwe on the economic front by shifting the focus onto the country’s diamonds and branding them blood diamonds deserving Kimberley Process suspension.
This is, of course, a change in tactic after targeting the country’s currency in the last decade.
Washinton’s "renewing and ramping of pressure" on Zamu-PF while supporting the MDCs is as aggressive as it is illegal and undemocratic.
In essence, in the pursuit of illegal regime change anchored on blatant economic attacks on Zimbabwe and deception and feigned love for Zimbabweans, the US is only confirming its insatiable appetite for imperialism.
tichaona.zindoga **** zimpapers.co.zw
Labels: HILLARY CLINTON, RUSS FEINGOLD, SANCTIONS, ZDERA
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US ‘amends’ sanctions law
Herald Reporter
UNITED STATES lawmakers have, for the first time, admitted that the discredited sanctions law, the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, has brought untold suffering to ordinary Zimbabweans.
On Tuesday, Democrat Senators Russ Feingold and John Kerry and their Republican counterpart Johnny Isakson proposed amending the sanctions to come up with a less virulent Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act.
Feingold sponsored the enactment of ZDERA which then US assistant secretary of state for African affairs Chester Crocker said was aimed at ‘‘making the economy scream’’ in order to separate Zimbabweans from Zanu-PF.
The then US president George W. Bush signed ZDERA into law on December 21, 2001.
However, the proposed amendments to ZDERA still amount to gross interference in Zimbabwe’s internal political processes, observers said.
Gerald LeMelle, the executive director of Africa Action — an American advocacy group lobbying for the changes — said the sanctions had “inflicted hardships on the country”.
Online media quoted him as saying: “That’s the kind of attitude that helps contribute to the poverty and the failed states . . .
“We at Africa Action have spent an enormous amount of time and energy trying to educate people as to what is really going on.
“The key is whether the power of the forces who have a deep-seated hatred for (President) Mugabe are going to win,” LeMelle said.
He said the Bill is needed to counter what he said were the excesses of President Mugabe’s lifelong, hardened critics.
“There are very powerful interests who have never liked (President) Robert Mugabe, and this is an obsession to the point where they want to defeat or ignore anything that may benefit Zimbabwe if it means that Zimbabwe will be seen in a successful light,” he said.
If adopted, the proposed new sanctions law seeks to pave way for the US government to directly fund certain Cabinet portfolios in Zimbabwe, ostensibly those in MDC formation hands.
The proposal seeks to “authorise technical assistance to reformist Government ministries and to the Parliament in its efforts to amend or repeal repressive legislation”.
In a statement posted on the Internet, the US Congress said the Act “is designed to help those parts of the transitional Government and Parliament that demonstrate a firm commitment to democratic reform, while renewing and ramping up pressure on hardliners and the activities that sustain their abuses”.
Apart from this attempt to divide the operations of the inclusive Government, the proposals also compel US President Barack Obama to push for Zimbabwe’s suspension from the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme.
Observers said the new law is a perpetuation of the same sanctions that the senators admit have hurt ordinary Zimbabweans.
A Government official said: “The statement from the US Congress clearly shows that they want to find an excuse to give money to MDC-T.
“It is a form of helping them campaign ahead of elections and it is against our laws.
“Ironically, these same people are considering a law in their own country that will make it illegal for foreigners to interfere in American political processes.”
The law in question, the America for Ameri-cans Act, is modelled along Zimbabwe’s Political Parties (Finance) Act and bars foreigners from funding political parties.
“There are really no major changes that the people of Zimbabwe should expect. It is a continuation of the scenario in the past decade,” the Government official said.
He said this was a way for the US to continue supporting the anti-President Mugabe agenda.
Zimbabwe Revolutionary Volunteers Front chair and political analyst Mr Godwine Mureriwa said the new law could be a response to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s call for a partial lifting of the sanctions.
“It’s double standards on their part to admit that ZDERA is hurting the people and at the same time partially amending it.
“We don’t need a reformation of ZDERA. We need its total removal and it’s up to Tsvangirai to tell them that we don’t need any legisla- tion that has a negative bearing on the lives of the people of Zimbabwe and its sovereignty.”
Labels: BLOOD DIAMONDS, DIAMONDS, KIMBERLEY PROCESS, NEOCOLONIALISM, RUSS FEINGOLD, SANCTIONS, ZDERA
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US Congress on ZDERA sanctions
By: Press Release
Posted: Wednesday, May 5, 2010 6:56 pm
U.S. Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), and John Kerry (D-MA) introduced bipartisan legislation today to help advance a genuine transition to democracy and stability in Zimbabwe.
In 2008, facing regional and international pressure, Robert Mugabe and opposition leaders agreed to form a transitional government until a new constitution could be established and new elections held. Since then, reformers in government have stopped the country’s severe economic decline and taken important steps toward economic reform.
However, hardliners continue to obstruct full implementation of the agreement and are still committing political and human rights abuses. Feingold, Isakson, and Kerry’s Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act is designed to help those parts of the transitional government and parliament that demonstrate a firm commitment to democratic reform, while renewing and ramping up pressure on hardliners and the activities that sustain their abuses.
“In 2001, I teamed up with Senator Bill Frist on the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, which President Bush signed in law,” said Senator Feingold, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs. "That bill showed our country’s commitment to the Zimbabwean people in their struggle for peaceful democratic change. To stay true to that commitment, we must continue to look for the most effective ways we can help Zimbabweans advance real change, both inside and outside of government. This legislation gives the Obama administration the guidance and flexibility to press for badly needed reforms in Zimbabwe.”
“It is imperative that we respond to the terrible abuses of human and political rights in Zimbabwe and support the Zimbabwean people as they work toward establishing stability and restoring democracy,” said Isakson, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs.
“This legislation seeks to give democratic reformers in Zimbabwe the chance to succeed,” said Senator Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “The vast majority of Zimbabweans yearn for representative democracy, economic stability, and a better future. With this legislation, we hope to give them the necessary tools to encourage this transition.”
Feingold, Isakson and Kerry’s Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2010 would:
* Reaffirm U.S. policy to support the people of Zimbabwe in their struggle to effect peaceful, democratic change, achieve economic growth and restore the rule of law through various forms of assistance and the continuation of targeted sanctions.
* Authorize technical assistance to reformist government ministries and to the Parliament in its efforts to amend or repeal repressive legislation.
* Express the Sense of Congress that the U.S. should seek to promote agricultural development as much as possible, while actively supporting steps to reestablish security of land tenure.
* Amend the restrictions on assistance for the government of Zimbabwe in the FY10 State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill to make exceptions in the areas of health and education.
* Amend the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 (P.L. 107-99) to provide greater flexibility for the U.S. to engage the International Financial Institutions, outlining new conditions for U.S. support of any proposed assistance based on how it will be targeted and administered.
* Direct the President to seek to address illegal diamond activities that are undermining democratic processes and institutions by pressing for Zimbabwe’s suspension from the Kimberley Process and exploring new targeted sanctions related to such activities.
* Encourage continued review and updating by OFAC of the targeted sanctions regime in light of evolving circumstances within the country.
* Direct the U.S. government to work with national, regional and international partners to begin preparing for future elections in Zimbabwe, specifically developing a strategy to reduce the risk of violence and other abuses around such elections.
* Require the Secretary of Treasury, Secretary of State, and USAID Administrator to provide a briefing to Congress within 180 days on steps taken and progress made toward implementing this Act.
______________________
Issued by the US Congress
Labels: RUSS FEINGOLD, ZDERA
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US reviews Zimbabwe sanctions
By: Samantha Chidzero
Posted: Wednesday, May 5, 2010 6:49 pm
THE United States is reviewing the decade old so-called Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (or sanctions document), the Zimbabwe Guardian has learnt. A bipartisan bill that seeks to amend the ZDERA of 2001, which introduced wide ranging illegal sanctions on the country, was introduced in the US Senate on Tuesday.
Sponsored by Senator Feingold along with Republican Senator Johny Isakson and fellow Democrat Senator John Kerry, the proposed Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act will seek to direct new US policy towards Zimbabwe.
The Bill seeks among other things to a create a statement of US policy towards Zimbabwe, "provide for technical assistance to the inclusive Government, support land reforms and take action to stop illegal diamond deals".
A communique issued by the US Congress says the Kerry, Isakson and Feingold bill seeks to "is designed to help those parts of the transitional government and parliament that demonstrate a firm commitment to democratic reform, while renewing and ramping up pressure on hardliners and the activities that sustain their abuses."
The US and its European Union counterparts have maintained sanctions on Zimbabwe despite the formation of the inclusive Government between President Robert Mugabe and his former arch rival, MDC-T leader and now Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
“The bill states that the US should continue to provide humanitarian assistance, promote trade between US companies and Zimbabwe push for the implementation of the power sharing agreement,” said a summary of the debate on the bill.
ZDERA is being amended to "reward the transitional government and allows for debt relief and multilateral financing".
The senators also want US president Barack Obama to be able to push for Zimbabwe to be suspended from the Kimberley Process.
Labels: BLOOD DIAMONDS, DIAMONDS, KIMBERLEY PROCESS, RUSS FEINGOLD, SANCTIONS, ZDERA
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COMMENT - I couldn't give a hoot about travel restrictions against President Mugabe. What the sanctions co-sponsored by Senator Feingold did, was put the Zimbabwean goverment on a credit freeze, which led to hyperinflation and economic destruction. That is the legislation that must be repealed, and reparations paid for the damage done to the Zimbabwean economy and Zimbabwean people. Zimbabwean citizens have died because of this legislation, all in an attempt to show that Africans cannot govern themselves, and therefore their resources must be and remain in the hands of those who stole them. And that is a disgrace. And what is the "Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act 2010"? It's not on Govtrack.us. It is not among
Senator Feingold's or
Senator Isakson's (co-) sponsored bills. From the CIA sponsored Voice Of America (straight to NewZimbabwe.com).
US Senators push for sanctions flexibility
by
05/05/2010 00:00:00
THREE U.S. senators have introduced a bill to bring a more flexible approach to sanctions against Zimbabwe.
Africa Action Executive Director Gerald LeMelle says the Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (DEERA), sponsored by Senators Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin), Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia), and John Kerry (D-Massachusetts), is needed to counter the excesses of what he calls Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s lifelong, hardened critics.
“There are very powerful interests who have never liked Robert Mugabe, and this is an obsession to the point where they want to defeat or ignore anything that may benefit Zimbabwe if it means that Zimbabwe will be seen in a successful light,” he said.
The Senate bill was introduced one day before African leaders begin meeting in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania at the 20th World Economic Forum on Africa.
With this year’s theme of the Geneva-based organization focusing on “Rethinking Africa’s Growth,” investors are expected to engage President Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, and Indigenization Minister Saviour Kasukuwere on the country’s plan to transfer majority control of large firms to indigenous investors.
From Tanzania Prime Minister Tsvangirai is expected to travel to Washington in the US where he is due to receive a human rights and democracy award.
Meanwhile, Gerald LeMelle said a U.S. revision of a 2001 sanctions law approved by former President George W. Bush, the Zimbabwe Economic and Democracy Recovery Act (ZEDERA), is warranted because the tough penalties imposed by President Mugabe’s foreign opponents have inflicted hardships on the country. He said they are counterproductive to the goals of promoting democracy and relieving enormous economic strains endured by the general population.
“That’s the kind of attitude that helps contribute to the poverty and the failed states and all of the problems that we see in the national security state we are in right now.
“We at Africa Action have spent an enormous amount of time and energy trying to educate people as to what is really going on. The key is whether the power of the forces who have a deep-seated hatred for Mugabe are going to win,” argued LeMelle.
By pursuing a U.S. policy that helps rehabilitate the fledgling unity government by helping poor and middle-class citizens make an economic recovery, LeMelle said Washington’s new legislation is adapting to the new realities of Zimbabwe’s transformation that will help pave the way for more representative government under a new constitution.
In any case, LeMelle notes, Mugabe’s allies have demonstrated the futility of pursuing a stringent sanctions policy by their skills at evading many of the restrictions.
“The DEERA does continue with the targeted sanctions on Mugabe and his closest people. It gives us a little more flexibility in constantly monitoring who on his team we are actually targeting the sanctions towards and how that is being monitored.
“In the past, several people around President Mugabe have been able to get around sanctions,” he noted.
Provisions of the new Senate bill include providing technical assistance to reformist government ministries, the promotion of agricultural development with policies consistent with reestablishing the security of land tenure, and curbing illegal diamond activities by pushing for Zimbabwe’s suspension from the Kimberley Process.
[Why does it always come back to diamonds and security of tenure again? The Kimberly Process has the fingerprints of the Oppenheimer family all over it - they have the global monopoly on diamonds to begin with, and they intend to protect it at all costs. See the 1994 documentary The Diamond Empire, the value of diamonds is based on monopoly induced artificial scarcity. - MrK]
The legislation also seeks regional and international cooperation in preparing for future elections whose conduct can avoid a resort to violence and other abuses.
Another provision, which Gerald LeMelle’s Africa Action advocacy group pushed for would encourage the start of deliberations on the restructuring, rescheduling, and perhaps even the cancellation of Harare’s debt to international and private financial institutions.
Voice of America.
Labels: RUSS FEINGOLD, SANCTIONS, ZDERA
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On the continuing sanctions and subversion of NGOs and the MDC in Zimbabwe. What is Russ Feingold's motivation to keep sabotaging the Zimbabwean economy? And the sanctimoniously blaming the government of Zimbabwe for the effect of the economic sanctions he co-sponsored through the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 is appalling. As if it is not enough that Barack Obama has surrounded himself with Clintonistas and leftovers of the Bush Admin. If anything undermines his credibility, it is that.
Expressing the sense of the Senate on United States policy during the political transition in Zimbabwe, and for other purposes. (Agreed to by Senate)
SRES 176 ATS
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 176
Expressing the sense of the Senate on United States policy during the political transition in Zimbabwe, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 9, 2009
Mr. FEINGOLD (for himself, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. KERRY, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. BURRIS, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. NELSON of Nebraska, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. CARDIN, and Mr. BROWNBACK) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the Senate on United States policy during the political transition in Zimbabwe, and for other purposes.
Whereas, over the course of the last decade, the Zimbabwean African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), led by Robert Mugabe, increasingly turned to violence and intimidation to maintain power amidst government-directed economic collapse and a growing humanitarian crisis;
Whereas the Department of State's 2008 Country Report on Human Rights Practices states that the Government of Zimbabwe `continued to engage in the pervasive and systematic abuse of human rights, which increased during the year,' including unlawful killings, politically-motivated abductions, state-sanctioned use of excessive force and torture by security forces against opposition, student leaders, and civil society activists;
Whereas Zimbabwe held presidential and parliamentary elections on March 29, 2008, with official results showing that Mr. Mugabe won 43.2 percent of the vote, while Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), won 47.9 percent of the vote;
Whereas, in the wake of those elections, Mr. Mugabe and his allies launched a brutal campaign of violence against members and supporters of the MDC, voters and journalists, and other citizens of Zimbabwe, leading Mr. Tsvangirai to withdraw from the June 27, 2008, runoff presidential election, which Mr. Mugabe, the only remaining candidate, then won with 85 percent of the vote;
Whereas, on September 15, 2008, ZANU-PF and the MDC signed a `Global Political Agreement' (GPA) to form a transitional government under which Mr. Mugabe would remain President, Mr. Tsvangirai would become Prime Minister, and the parties would divide control of the ministries;
Whereas the Global Political Agreement, as written, included provisions to restore the rule of law and economic stability and growth, establish a new constitution, end violence by state and non-state actors, and promote freedom of assembly, association, expression, and communication;
Whereas the installation of the transitional government stalled for five months as Mr. Mugabe and his allies refused to compromise on control of key ministries and security agencies and continued to use the state security apparatus to intimidate and commit violence against political opponents;
Whereas, according to the United Nations, the humanitarian situation during that time deteriorated to unprecedented levels, with an estimated 5,000,000 people in Zimbabwe susceptible to food insecurity, and collapsing water and sewerage services giving rise to a cholera epidemic that has resulted in the deaths of more than 4,000 people;
Whereas, on February 11, 2009, the parties finally formed the transitional government;
Whereas there has since been some progress toward the implementation of the Global Political Agreement, including positive steps by the Ministry of Finance, such as the issuance of a Short Term Economic Recovery Program (STERP) and the abandonment of the Zimbabwe dollar in favor of foreign currencies;
Whereas many of the reform-minded individuals within the new transitional government are limited by a severe lack of qualified personnel and material resources;
Whereas the full implementation of the Global Political Agreement continues to be obstructed by hardliners in the government, and important issues regarding senior government appointments remain unresolved, notably the status of the current Reserve Bank Governor and the Attorney General;
Whereas ZANU-PF officials have made efforts to obstruct implementation of the Global Political Agreement as they continue to arrest legitimate journalists and human rights activists and delay the swearing into office of properly designated officials nominated by MDC; and
Whereas the security forces continue to operate outside the rule of law, condoning land invasions, restrictions on media access and freedoms, and harassment, arbitrary arrests, and detention of civil society activists in Zimbabwe: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the United States Government, in coordination with other democratic governments and international institutions desiring to help the people of Zimbabwe, should--
(1) continue to provide humanitarian assistance to meet the urgent needs of the people of Zimbabwe;
(2) make available increased resources for nongovernmental entities to provide assistance and to pay salaries or fees to appropriately qualified people in Zimbabwe to enable progress to be made in the critical areas of education, health, water, and sanitation;
(3) welcome and encourage responsible efforts by the international community to support, strengthen, and extend reforms made by ministries within the Government of Zimbabwe, especially the Ministry of Finance;
(4) provide concrete financial and technical assistance in response to requests from the people of Zimbabwe and civil society organizations in their efforts to draft and enact a new constitution based on democratic values and principles that would enable the country to hold fair and free elections at an early date;
(5) work with and encourage regional governments and leaders to promote human rights, the restoration of the rule of law, and economic growth in Zimbabwe;
(6) maintain the existing ban on the transfer of defense items and services and the suspension of most non-humanitarian government-to-government assistance until there is demonstrable progress toward restoring the rule of law, civilian control over security forces, and respect for human rights in Zimbabwe; and
(7) support the continuation and updating of financial sanctions and travel bans targeted against those individuals responsible for the deliberate breakdown of the rule of law, politically motivated violence, and other ongoing illegal activities in Zimbabwe.
Labels: RUSS FEINGOLD, SANCTIONS, ZDERA
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