Russia, China veto move to sanction Zimbabwe regime

China and Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution Friday that would have imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and members of his regime for rigging the June 27 presidential runoff election.

The U.S.-sponsored resolution, which would have frozen the leaders’ assets, barred them from leaving the country, and prohibited arms imports, aimed to pressure Mugabe to reach a political settlement with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

Zimbabwe’s ambassador to the U.N., Boniface Chidyausiku, said the resolution’s failure was a blow to the United States’ and Britain’s attempts to use the Security Council as their tool to “rule the world.”

He said that the vetoes by China and Russia validated Zimbabwe’s argument that the situation in his country did not warrant international intervention and that sanctions would undermine talks in South Africa between the ruling party and MDC leaders.

But British Ambassador John Sawers told the Council that it had “failed to shoulder its responsibility to do what it can to prevent a national tragedy deepening and spreading its effects across southern Africa.”

The MDC won the most seats in parliamentary elections March 29, and its presidential candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, received more votes than Mugabe. But, officially, Tsvangirai fell short of a majority.

He eventually dropped out of the runoff, citing violence and intimidation by Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party. Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980.

Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin framed his country’s veto as an expression of opposition to a larger trend of Western countries trying to intervene in other nations’ matters, such as in Myanmar and Sudan, under the guise of protecting international security.

In Zimbabwe’s case, he said, sanctions would only undercut South Africa’s mediation efforts.

“This resolution is nothing but an attempt to interfere in the internal matters of Zimbabwe,” he said.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said any country opposing the resolution would “be on the wrong side of history.”

“I don’t see how anybody, anybody, any country in good conscience can vote against this resolution after witnessing what has gone on in Zimbabwe,” McCormack said.

Nine countries voted in favor of the sanctions and one abstained. Besides China and Russia, South Africa, Libya and Vietnam voted against. A resolution needs at least nine yes votes and no vetoes to pass.

In Zimbabwe, the Movement for Democratic Change said 113 of its activists had been killed in violence since the elections, including one found dead Thursday. Gift Mutsvungunu, an MDC polling agent, disappeared last week. His eyes had been gouged out and his back was badly burned, according to the MDC.

Hundreds of other activists are in hiding, including one who sent a cellphone text message to The Times in Harare at midnight recently: “Pliz help me, my life is in danger.”

Despite the violence, the opposition’s lobbying for a tough Security Council resolution was hampered when its own negotiators, including the party secretary general, Tendai Biti, met officials of the Mugabe regime in Pretoria, South Africa.

Although the MDC insisted that Biti’s mission was only to formally set down the opposition’s conditions for negotiations to begin, the visit was widely perceived in the international media as signaling a resumption of talks.

Tsvangirai had ruled out participation in talks of any kind until a second mediator is named to work alongside South African President Thabo Mbeki, who was appointed by a regional body, the Southern African Development Community, as the mediator.

The opposition says it has lost confidence in Mbeki.

The MDC is calling for the violence to stop, the militias to be disbanded, their bases to be closed, more than 1,500 political prisoners to be released and for the ZANU-PF to recognize the March 29 election.

The ZANU-PF insists that Mugabe, who claimed victory in the one-man presidential runoff after Tsvangirai withdrew because of the violence, be recognized as the legitimate leader.

The ruling party wants a ZANU-PF-dominated government of national unity, which it sees as a vehicle to regain legitimacy and win back the support of investors and international financial institutions.

The MDC wants to see some form of transitional arrangement to bring about a power transfer, but refuses to be drawn into details until after the negotiating mechanism is in place.

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maggie.farley@latimes.com

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A Times staff writer in Harare, Zimbabwe, contributed to this report.