A draft resolution that would have put sanctions on the regime of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has been blocked in the United Nations Security Council.
Russia and China vetoed a proposal that was put forward by the United States and which envisaged an arms embargo on Zimbabwe as well as financial and travel restrictions on Mugabe and 13 of his top officials. The US, Britain and France, said sanctions were needed to respond to the violence and intimidation linked to Zimbabwe's recent and widely condemned presidential election. The US ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, expressed surprise and frustration at Moscow's veto, quoting recent Russian support for the move at the G8 summit in Japan. Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin argued that sanctions would have taken the UN beyond its mandate to deal with threats to international peace and security.
(Deutsche Welle)
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