Herald claims smart sanctions have failed

The Herald said President Robert Mugabe’s visit to the United Nations in May 2002, shortly after the United States had slapped smart sanctions on him and his lieutenants, was a clear indication that the smart sanctions had failed to work.

Although the paper was quoting Foreign Affairs Minister Stan Mudenge, the sanctions did not apply when Mugabe was on United Nations business.

Full cable:

Viewing cable 02HARARE1140, MEDIA REPORT MUGABE’S VISIT TO THE UN

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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS HARARE 001140

SIPDIS

AF/PD FOR COX AND ROBERTSON, AF/S FOR KRAFT AND SCHLACHTER,

AF/RA FOR DIPALMA, INR/R/MR, NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER

E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: ZI PREL PHUM

SUBJECT: MEDIA REPORT MUGABE’S VISIT TO THE UN

¶1.   Under the headline “‘Smart sanctions fail’: Ban

imposed on Zimbabwe’s leadership has failed to work:

Mudenge,” the government-owned daily “Herald” offers the

official view of President Mugabe’s May 8-12 visit to UN

headquarters in New York. Excerpts:

¶2.   “President Mugabe’s visit to the UN in New York last

week means that the so-called smart sanctions imposed on

Zimbabwe’s leadership have failed to work, the Minister

of Foreign Affairs Stan Mudenge, said yesterday. . .

The U.S. and the EU imposed the so-called targeted

sanctions, which are supposed to ban President Mugabe

and his entire Cabinet from visiting the U.S. and EU

member countries. Yet the President and the First Lady;

as well as the Minister of Youth Development, Gender and

Employment Creation, Elliot Manyika, spent close to a

week in New York and their movements were not restricted

at all. A spokesman for Zimbabwe’s Permanent Mission to

the UN, Mr. Emmanuel Gumbo, dismissed media reports that

Mugabe’s movements were restricted as mischievous. He

said the President had ’25 green lights ahead of him to

travel anywhere he wishes in the United States. . . .'”

SULLIVAN

(16 VIEWS)