G8 to impose sanctions on Mugabe

The United States and Britain, among the fiercest critics of the veteran leader, had lobbied for a strong stand at a G8 summit in Japan after he was declared winner of a June 27 poll boycotted by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

A number of G8 nations already have financial and travel restrictions on Mugabe and his inner circle.

"We will take further steps, inter alia introducing financial and other measures against those individuals responsible for the violence," the G8 said in statement at its summit in Japan.

The grouping of major industrial powers said Mugabe's re-election had occurred without the necessary conditions required for a free and fair vote.

Movement for Democratic Change leader Tsvangirai withdrew six days before the election because of violence by pro-Mugabe militias which the MDC said killed 103 of its supporters.

Mugabe blames his opponents for the bloodshed.

But such a resolution could face stiff resistance from China or Russia, each of which has a veto in the Council. Although Russia signed onto the G8 statement, Moscow has expressed misgivings about sanctions, which are also opposed by African nations.

France's U.N. ambassador, Jean-Maurice Ripert, said he believed there would be enough Security Council votes to pass the sanctions resolution this week.

CLIMATE CHANGE: G8 leaders agreed on the need for the world to cut carbon emissions blamed for global warming by at least 50 percent by 2050 and for each nation to set its own target for a nearer term.

The statement is a step forward from last year's call to "consider seriously" such long-term cuts. But environmentalists and developing countries denounced the deal as toothless.

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT: G8 leaders set a five-year deadline to commit 60 billion dollars in funding to help the continent fight disease, including pledging 100 million mosquito nets by 2010 which officials hoped would prevent thousands of deaths from malaria.

The nations renewed a commitment made three years ago to double aid for Africa to 25 billion dollars by 2010 and to look to further assistance after 2010.

FOOD PRICE CRISIS: G8 leaders called on nations with sufficient food stocks to release some of their reserves to help others cope with soaring prices and said it was "imperative" to remove export restrictions.

OIL: G8 leaders called for an increase in oil production and refining capacities to help stem record high crude prices.

IRAN: G8 leaders urged Iran to end its uranium enrichment activities in line with UN Security Council resolutions and called on Tehran to respond positively to international mediation.

NORTH KOREA: G8 leaders urged North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons and cooperate in the verification of its dossier of nuclear programmes. In a key concern for Japan, the G8 leaders also urged progress in a row over North Korea's abductions of Japanese civilians in the 1970s and 1980s.