- Title: USA: U.S. GOVERNMENT SAYS IT SUPPORTS E.U. SANCTIONS AGAINST ZIMBABWE.
- Date: 20th February 2002
- Summary: (U6) WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY 19, 2002) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) 1. WIDE OF U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT BRIEFING 2. (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN RICHARD BOUCHER, SAYING: "Well, we've been coordinating very closely with the European governments, with the European Union allies on this crisis. They made decisions over the weekend to impose certain targeted sanctions, and those are decisions that we strongly support. They cite in their decision -- announce in their decision, the continuing political violence, human rights abuses, media restrictions, and the government of Zimbabwe's efforts to prevent a free and fair presidential election, particularly with regards to the expulsion of the observers. And those have been the issues that we, too, have focused on, that we have spoken of. Now, we've been working on targeted sanctions ourselves, as the secretary noted in testimony the other day. We've been working through this process to implement targeted travel sanctions that focus on the individuals responsible for, or who benefit from politics that undermine Zimbabwe's democratic institutions. We're moving rapidly towards the final implementation of that plan, but I don't have a formal announcement for you today." 3. WIDE OF U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT BRIEFING 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BOUCHER, SAYING: "I talked about targeted travel sanctions, targeted sanctions on the travel of individuals that have been associated with undermining democracy. That process is going forward. She asked if we were waiting for the elections; I said no. I was then asked about what about additional sanctions for example in the financial area. And those would indeed depend to some extent on the conduct of the elections; at least the elections would have a major bearing on whether we decided to extend our sanctions beyond the travel sanctions that are already underway." 5. U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT BRIEFING Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 7th March 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
- City:
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA1C83HM1AX8O9TPK29AJI4EXDQ
- Story Text: The United States has said it supported European
Union sanctions against Zimbabwe and was preparing a similar
package of U.S. sanctions on travel by Zimbabwe's political
leaders.
U.S. State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher on
Tuesday (February 19) voiced US support for sanctions imposed
by the European union on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe
and his inner circle.
Boucher also said the government was preparing a similar
package of U.S. sanctions on travel by Zimbabwe's political
leaders.
"Now, we've been working on targeted sanctions ourselves,
as the secretary noted in testimony the other day. We've been
working through this process to implement targeted travel
sanctions that focus on the individuals responsible for, or
who benefit from politics that undermine Zimbabwe's democratic
institutions," Boucher told reporters.
"We're moving rapidly toward the final implementation of
that plan but I don't have a formal announcement," he added.
On Monday (February 18) the European Union slapped a visa
ban on 20 top Zimbabwean officials, including President Robert
Mugabe, and froze their assets in protest at Zimbabwe's
failure to cooperate with European election monitors.
Boucher said the United States would review the need to
apply economic sanctions or other forms of sanctions after it
assesses the manner in which the March presidential elections
in Zimbabwe are conducted.
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