China Defends It’s UN Veto on Zimbabwe Sanctions, Calls for Dialogue

China on Friday vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution on Zimbabwe, saying that political dialogue and negotiation is “the only correct path” to solve the Zimbabwe crisis. In a statement published Saturday, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said “The African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are mediating Zimbabwe’s political crisis. The international society should provide constructive assistance, avoiding any action that might cast shadow on the political dialogue”.

“This is the common request of the AU countries, which the Security Council should pay attention to and respect,” he said.

“Under the current scenario, a sanction resolution would not only endanger the negotiation process between the Zimbabwean government and the opposition, but also further complicate the situation in Zimbabwe” Liu added.

China and Russia vetoed a U S-drafted resolution in the Security Council on Friday that would impose sanctions on Zimbabwe over the country’s presidential run-off election in late June.

South Africa, which is mediating Zimbabwe’s political crisis, together with Libya and Vietnam also voted against the draft while Indonesia abstained.

United States, Britain, France, Belgium, Italy, Panama, Burkina Faso, Croatia and Costa Rica voted for the draft resolution.

The text calls for a travel ban and an assets freeze on President Robert Mugabe and his top officials, as well as an arms embargo.

Opponents of the resolution argued that sanctions would undermine the mediation efforts of the African Union and SADC and endanger the negotiation process between the Zimbabwean government and the opposition.

The problems in Zimbabwe “cannot be resolved by artificially elevating them to the degree of a threat to international peace and security,” Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the council.

“The use or threat to use sanctions lightly is not conducive to solving a problem,” Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya said.

“More importantly, the development of the situation in Zimbabwe till now, has not exceeded the context of its domestic affairs and it does not constitute a threat to world peace and security,” Wang added.

Many members of the UN Security Council, including China, expressed such concerns and called for further consultations so as to leave enough time for the AU mediating efforts.

“We regret that those reasonable requests were not valued and responded to by the presenting country, therefore, China vetoed the resolution,” Liu said.

Liu also called on the different parties in Zimbabwe to take the national security and interest of the people as a priority, fully cooperate with the mediation of the AU and SADC, so as to seek a solution in line with public opinion and political reality.

Source African Press Agency

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