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Fungi Kwaramba Political Editor

NOTHING short of a prompt, unconditional and total removal of illegal economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the United States is acceptable and continued slanderous statements from Washington should be withdrawn immediately, the Government has said.

This follows an announcement by the US that it was reviewing sanctions on Zimbabwe yet in essence it has maintained the illegal punitive measures that are legitimised by Washington through the so-called Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA).

In a strongly worded statement last night, Government said a piecemeal and conditional review of sanctions is not enough as it shows the US continued interference in Zimbabwe, a sovereign nation and full member of the United Nations with equal rights.

“Today Zimbabwe cannot be expected to thank or be grateful to President Biden and the US for announcing palliative measures towards finally rescinding an illegality and an outrage, even then at its own pace, perpetrated for more than two decades, and in flagrant violation of international law. Nothing short of some prompt, unconditional removal in toto of those illegal coercive measures, including the infamous ZDERA, is acceptable to Zimbabwe and her long-abused, innocent people,” read the statement in part.

Zimbabwe has been under the US illegal sanctions since 2001 when the so-called Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA) was passed by the American Congress as part of a raft of reprisals for Zimbabwe’s Land Reform Programme.

This, the Government noted, was “an open and frontal challenge to Zimbabwe’s sovereignty as a fully-fledged independent African nation under the United Nations Charter”.

“That heinous Act which the United States passed unilaterally, and outside the confines and auspices of international law and the United Nations respectively, was given effect through a series of equally illegal Executive Orders by successive presidents of the US, by which the US Government sought to make laws and punitive policies for a sovereign African State with which it shares neither common geography nor history, and against which it has no defensible legal case. All those measures were illegal and unjustified then; they remain so to this very day and until they are unconditionally dropped.”

On Monday, US President Joe Biden announced the purported withdrawal of illegal Executive Orders passed by his predecessors since March 6, 2003.

The review, the Government statement noted, is unacceptable to Zimbabwe as it will never take away the pain that Zimbabweans have endured for over two decades.

“The announcement two days ago, on March 4, 2024, by the US President Joseph R Biden, purporting to rescind all illegal Executive Orders passed by his predecessors since March 6, 2003, some 21 years later after these debilitating sanctions against our nation, can never atone for, let alone write off, heinous crimes committed against our nation, can never atone for, let alone write off, heinous crimes committed against Zimbabwe and her people through these illegal, blanket country sanctions. Noteworthy, these arbitrary US coercive measures against Zimbabwe were condemned by the United Nations as illegal, vindictive and unjustified under any pretext. Until now, the United States government remained obdurate and indifferent.”

Government also censured the US over baseless and false statements it continues to peddle and demanded an immediate withdrawal.

“Zimbabwe takes great exception to gratuitous slander and defamatory remarks by officials of the Biden Administration against the sanctioned Zimbabwean leadership and its nationals. This slander has been repeated here on Zimbabwean soil by local staff of the United States Embassy. What adds to the outrage is that these bald and damaging accusations, coldly and mechanically made through a pre-drafted standard text of high-handed pillory by the US, are not backed by any iota of evidence; nor do they follow any internationally recognised show of due process in competent courts. We condemn these malicious statements as completely uncalled for, as defamatory, provocative, and as a continuation of wanton hostilities against Zimbabwe by the US government,” the statement said.

“We demand that the Biden Administration provides evidence in support of these gratuitous accusations, failure which the Administration must, without any further delay, withdraw them unconditionally. It cannot be right, let alone a healthy basis for conducting international relations or building friendship, for a country, however mightily it views itself, to slander innocent nationals of other nations, while also maligning those same nations for daring to be independent and sovereign, and for reversing a baneful legacy of settler colonialism, in line with the United Nations Charter.”

In the strongly worded statement, Government said might can never be right especially when some superpowers bully other nations.

“Might can never be right, or trash rights of nations, however small, which are recognised as full members, under the United Nations Charter.”

Over the years, Zimbabwe has received support from SADC, the African Union, the United Nations, and other progressive nations in the fight for the unilateral removal of the illegal economic sanctions.

“Zimbabwe urges these organisations, and all men and women of goodwill worldwide, to maintain the momentum against the so-called targeted sanctions, which in reality are country sanctions, and which must be removed in toto, and unconditionally.

“Further, Zimbabwe extends solidarity to all peoples and nations similarly affected by such illegal sanctions from any quarter, outside the framework of the United Nations. As a government leading a country with pretensions to global leadership, the Biden Administration must lead by example in showing the rest of the world how to act in accord with international law, rather than acting arbitrarily, both at bilateral and global levels. On its part, Zimbabwe will stand firm in defence of her hard-won sovereignty and in pursuit of her chosen destiny, consistent with its policy of being a friend to all, and an enemy to none. No amount of sanctions or hostilities will deter or detract her from her chosen path,” read the statement.

Every year on October 25, Africa and the progressive world join hands to call for the unconditional removal of the illegal economic sanctions that have stymied Zimbabwe’s economic growth and bled the country of billions with devastating effects on key sectors such as health and education.