Draft resolution on Zimbabwe vetoed, RI abstains

A draft resolution calling for sanctions on Zimbabwe, including a travel ban and assets freeze on President Robert Mugabe and 12 other individuals, was not adopted by the UN Security Council (UNSC) at UN Headquarters in New York on Friday.

According to a press statement from the UN News Center made available to ANTARA, UNSC permanent members China and Russia vetoed the text, with South Africa, Libya and Viet Nam also voting against it.

The draft received 9 votes in favor - the necessary number for a majority - from the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Croatia, Italy and Panama, while Indonesia abstained.

Before the vote, Ambassador Boniface Guwa Chidyausiku of Zimbabwe stressed that "political dialogue is ongoing between the contending parties" in the country, adding that in his inauguration statement, Mugabe "reached out to the opposition and said that it was now imperative for the nation to look forward to the future with a sense of unity."

But the United States, one of the resolution`s 9 co-sponsors, disagreed.

"There are no serious, substantive negotiations underway between the Mugabe regime and the opposition," Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad of the United States told the Council after the vote.

Khalilzad said ...