Zimbabwe masses gather to greet Iranian President Ahmadinejad who visited the country on April 22, 2010. Iran and Zimbabwe have a close fraternal relationship as anti-imperialist states.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
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.”
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