West suffers historic defeat as China and Russia veto Zimbabwe sanctions
The Times/UK
July 12, 2008
Robert Mugabe had faced an arms embargo and travel ban
James Bone in New York and David Robertson
Britain’s diplomatic strategy in Zimbabwe collapsed last night in an
historic defeat for the West in the UN Security Council that will have
repercussions across Africa and beyond.
Russia and China wielded their veto to kill a resolution imposing UN
sanctions on President Mugabe and his inner circle in a defining vote
in the 15-nation council.
Sir John Sawers, the British Ambassador to the UN, said: `The people of
Zimbabwe need to be given hope that there is an end in sight to their
suffering. The Security Council today has failed to offer them that
hope.’
Russia declared that it was casting its veto to prevent the council,
under the influence of Western members, from meddling in the internal
affairs of a UN member state.
`We have seen an effort to take the council beyond its charter
prerogative,’ Vitaly Churkin, the Russian Ambassador to the UN,
declared. `We believe such practices to be illegitimate and dangerous,
leading to a realignment of the UN system. This draft is nothing but
the council’s attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of a member
state.’
China, which supplies arms to Harare, said that the Zimbabwe crisis did
not con
stitute a threat to international peace and security, over which
the council had jurisdiction.
`Internationally, to use or threaten to use sanctions lightly is not
conducive to solving a problem,’ Wang Guangya, the Chinese Ambassador
to the UN, said.
Britain and the United States forced the draft resolution to a vote
because they counted on the support of the nine members needed to
secure adoption. In a dramatic show of hands, the draft did indeed earn
the requisite nine votes to pass, with five against, but was not
adopted because of Russia’s and China’s block. South Africa, Vietnam
and Libya also voted against, while Indonesia abstained.
The showdown heralds a chilling of international relations as Russia
and China resist growing UN intervention in other repressive regimes,
such as Burma, and it represents a shift in the balance of power at the
top table of diplomacy. Russia, China and developing nations are
flexing their muscles after Western dominance since the fall of the
Berlin Wall.
`China and Russia have stood with Mugabe against the people of
Zimbabwe,’ Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Ambassador, told the council. `This
resolution would have supported the courageous efforts of the
Zimbabwean people to change their lives peacefully through elections.’
The statements by Britain and the US reflected their anger days after
President Medvedev of Russia agreed a tough state ment at the G8 summit
in Japan threatening sanctions against Zimbabwe. Sir John read out the
G8 statement promising further steps, including `financial and other
measures against those individuals responsible for the violence.’ He
described the Russian action as irresponsible.
Mr Khalilzad went further, calling the Russian veto a `U-turn’ and
suggesting that it raised questions about Russia’s `reliability as a G8
partner’, hinting that it might be ejected from the elite club of
leading industrial nations.
The UN resolution would have imposed an arms embargo on Zimbabwe and
clamped a worldwide asset freeze and travel ban on Mr Mugabe and 13 of
his henchmen accused of orchestrating election abuses in the June 27
presidential run-off vote.
It would also have required the UN to name a special representative to
act as a mediator in Zimbabwe.
Britain hoped that the resolution would step up the pressure on Mr
Mugabe and his closest aides and sideline the discredited mediation
efforts by President Mbeki of South Africa.
Last night’s defeat left British policy in disarray. `With the vetoing
of this resolution, we need to look for a new way forward,’ Sir John
said.
Even in the absence of international sanctions, a growing number of
Western companies are pulling out of Zimbabwe. Among others, Shell, the
Anglo-Dutch oil giant, has announced its withdrawal.
0D
Companies operating in Zimbabwe have been under fire for remaining in
the country and the British Government has suggested that they could be
forced to leave.
Tesco said that it would no longer source food from Zimbabwe, while
WPP, the advertising agency, is in the process of selling its business,
which is part-owned by a relative of Mr Mugabe.
Barclays Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and the mining corporations
Anglo American and Rio Tinto have decided to stay.