China and Russia block sanctions on Zimbabwe regime
The U.S., others at the United Nations pushed to penalize state-sanctioned election violence.
UNITED NATIONS - Russia and China vetoed proposed sanctions on Zimbabwe's leaders yesterday, rejecting U.S. efforts to step up punitive measures against the authoritarian regime after a widely discredited presidential election.
Western powers mustered nine votes, the minimum needed to gain approval in the 15-nation council. But the resolution pushed by the Bush administration failed because of the action by two of the five veto-wielding permanent members.
The three other states with veto power - the United States, Britain and France - argued that sanctions were needed to respond to the state-sanctioned violence and intimidation against opponents of President Robert Mugabe before and after Zimbabwe's recent presidential election.
The proposal would have imposed an international travel ban and freeze on personal assets of Mugabe and 13 key officials.
Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said sanctions would have taken the United Nations beyond its mandate in trying to punish political disputes by "artificially elevating them to the level of a threat" to international peace and security.
Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya, whose nation is one of Zimbabwe's major trading partners, also expressed fears of nation-tinkering and said Zimbabwe should be left to conduct its own talks on how to resolve its political crisis.
"The development of the situation in Zimbabwe until now has not exceeded the context of domestic affairs," Wang said. "It will unavoidably interfere with the negotiation process."