AU chair amplifies call for sanctions removal

Political Editor

SANCTIONS imposed by Western countries on Zimbabwe are an injustice that has caused untold pain on Zimbabweans and the region at large, African Union Chairperson and Senegalese President Macky Sall has said.

In his address to the United Nations General Assembly here on Tuesday, President Sall said the economic sanctions should be removed immediately to enable Zimbabwe to realise its full potential.

This comes as African countries, notably South Africa, Rwanda, Botswana and Namibia have consistently condemned the unilateral sanctions that were imposed two decades ago by the United States, Britain and their Western allies as punishment for the land reform programme.

Just last week, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told US President Joe Biden to remove the baneful sanctions.

It also comes as the United Nations Special Rapporteur “on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights”, has red-flagged the US and her allies for unilateralism, breaking international laws and punishing Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans using their might.

At the UNGA 77th session, the biggest diplomatic platform in the world, President Sall was also unequivocal in the call for the removal of sanctions which have cost Zimbabwe an estimated US$100 billion in terms of direct and indirect investment.

“The AU once again calls for the lifting of foreign sanctions against Zimbabwe. These harsh measures continue to inflict a sense of injustice against an entire people and aggravate their suffering in these times of deep crisis,” he said.

The call for the removal of the illegal embargo comes just a few days after President Ramaphosa, in his deliberations with Mr Biden, said the illegal embargo has not only affected Zimbabwe but the entire SADC region which has set aside October 25 as the SADC Anti-Sanctions Day.

The recent report released by United Nations Special Rapporteur, Professor Alena Douhan, on the effects of the unilateral sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West, has exposed the heinous side of the illegal embargo, with the country’s youths also paying a heavy price of missed opportunities in the past two decades.

“As a result of the designation of senior State officials and companies owned or controlled by them, foreign companies and banks are unwilling to do business with the public sector of Zimbabwe, preventing the Government from getting revenue for the exercise of its public functions and provision of essential services, resulting in the violation of labour and social rights of people involved in the public sector, whose salaries are reported to be much lower than in the private sphere.

“This has led to rising unemployment, especially among the most qualified professionals, including engineers, doctors, teachers, university professors, judges and police officers. 

“Unilateral sanctions have also prevented the Government from using resources to develop and maintain essential infrastructure, disaster response plans and social support programmes, which has a devastating effect on the whole population of Zimbabwe, especially those in extreme poverty, women, young people, children, medical workers and people with disabilities or life-threatening or chronic diseases, particularly in rural areas.

“Low salaries, unemployment and growing involvement in the informal economy result in migration to neighbouring countries and an increase in poverty, criminal activities, corruption, prostitution, trafficking in persons, sexual exploitation and drug abuse, especially among the most vulnerable, including women, young people and children.”

Apart from the primary sanctions that were imposed by the Western world as punishment for the land reform programme, there are also secondary sanctions that have seen financial institutions being fined to the tune of US$3.8 billion by the United States’ Office of Foreign Assets Control.

So debilitating have been the sanctions, particularly those imposed by the US and packaged misleadingly as the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, that multilateral financing from institutions such as the World Bank and the Africa Development Bank has ceased — with dire ripple effects on the lives and livelihoods of Zimbabweans.

In the report, now before the family of nations, Prof Douhan details how the sanctions have decimated critical sectors such as health, education, and also the private sector.

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