Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe is ”happy” at the veto of a draft United Nations resolution to impose tough new sanctions, the country’s ambassador to the world body told BBC television from New York on Saturday.
”President Mugabe is happy to know that the United Nations is still a body where there’s equal sovereignty of every member of the United Nations and there are checks and balances within the system that protects the weak from the powerful,” Boniface Chidyausiku said in an interview.
Earlier, China and Russia joined Libya, South Africa and Vietnam in opposing the United States draft, which would have imposed an assets freeze and a travel ban on the veteran leader and 13 of his cronies, plus an arms embargo.
The vote, on which Indonesia abstained, provoked strong reactions from Britain, the former colonial power in Zimbabwe, and the US. Both pointed the finger at Russia for reneging on a Group of Eight agreement to back sanctions.
But Chidyausiku said the blocking of the draft resolution was ”great news”.
”It’s a reflection of the rule of law in the United Nations that nobody has monopoly on how things should be in the Security Council. Reason has prevailed,” he added.
He said the ”machinations” of Britain, France and the US, as well as their ”flimsy reasons” for fresh sanctions, had been exposed and there was ”no justification for that type of action”.
Before the vote, Zimbabwe’s UN envoy, Chidyausiku said that his country was already reeling under sanctions from the US and European Union.
”Adopting this resolution will set a dangerous precedence and will only serve to undermine the ongoing dialogue between the political parties, and risks worsening the political and socio-economic situation in the country, and will affect other countries in the region,” he said.
South Africa has also welcomed the decision not to impose sanctions against Zimbabwe.
Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said South Africa voted against the draft resolution in accordance with the recent African Union summit’s decision to ”encourage President Robert Mugabe and the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change to honour their commitment to initiate dialogue with view to promote peace, stability, democracy and reconciliation of the Zimbabwean people”.
He said the role of the international community at this juncture should be to encourage the Zimbabwean political parties to deepen and consolidate the current dialogue process, as facilitated by the Southern African Development Community.
Talks continue in Pretoria
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s ruling party and opposition held a second day of talks in South Africa on Friday.
The talks, aimed at laying the groundwork for fully fledged negotiations to resolve Zimbabwe’s political crisis, were the first since Mugabe won a new term as president in a June 27 poll widely denounced as a sham.
Held in an undisclosed location in Pretoria, the talks had been kept under wraps as the parties set conditions for negotiations.
Nqobizitha Mlilo, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change’s (MDC) chief spokesperson in South Africa, said on Friday afternoon the party’s chief negotiator, Tendai Biti, was to return home earlier in the day and ”should be” back in Zimbabwe.
Asked whether that meant the day’s talks had ended, he said: ”It’s my understanding the meetings have finished already.” He was unable to say whether further meetings were planned, and Biti could not be reached for comment.
The MDC has insisted substantive negotiations can only take place if violence is halted and more than 1 500 ”political prisoners” are released.
It has also called for an expanded mediation team, including an African Union permanent envoy, and the swearing-in of lawmakers as the opposition now controls Parliament.
”Those are the issues, that’s the sole agenda. There is no substantive agenda,” Mlilo said.
South African President Thabo Mbeki is the region’s long-time mediator between the opposition and Mugabe’s ruling party. South African government officials — though not Mbeki himself — were involved in Thursday’s discussions in Pretoria, said presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga.
Zanu-PF was represented by Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Labour Minister Nicholas Goche, and the MDC by secretary general Biti and deputy treasurer general Elton Mangoma.
The ruling party has refused comment on the talks.
Mugabe was re-elected in last month’s run-off after MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out, citing a wave of attacks against his supporters that killed dozens and injured thousands.
On Friday, the MDC said a total of 113 supporters had now been killed in politically related violence. Among the most recent victims was a polling agent, Gift Mutsvungunu, whose body was found in a suburb of Harare on Thursday after he was reported missing last week, the opposition said. — Sapa-AFP, Sapa-dpa, Sapa