Sanctions on Zimbabwe should be condemned: China Daily editorial

The Southern African Development Community designated Oct 25 a day for solidarity against sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom nearly 20 years ago.

The sanctions were applied in response to a land reform the government of Zimbabwe carried out in 2000 to nationalize the majority of the land of the country that was controlled by a handful of white people, a legacy of colonialism, and re-allocate it to landless black people. This moved the cheese of the Western countries, and they started imposing the sanctions unilaterally to force Zimbabwe to rewind the reform that was conducive to boosting agricultural productivity and benefitting the low-income population in the country.

The SADC's move follows a major show of solidarity by the African Union and African leaders at the United Nations General Assembly last month.

Nonetheless, the call to lift the sanctions seems to be falling on deaf ears. James O'Brien, the US State Department's sanctions coordinator, told an online news briefing last week that the US sanctions are not hurting ordinary Zimbabweans and were aimed at bringing about a positive change in behavior, "and of course to support our policy objectives within the broader framework of US Government strategy". Having been unable to do that over the past two decades, there is no reason to think they are going to do that now.

On Tuesday, the British embassy in Zimbabwe, released a statement to rebut the call to lift the sanctions, saying that UK sanctions "do not affect trade or economic measures", and "We want Zimbabwe to succeed. Anything to suggest that the UK wants to harm Zimbabwe is simply false."

United Nations special rapporteur Alena Douhan, for one, might beg to differ.

In a report, she said that many companies, as well as foreign banks, have adopted zero-risk policies and have been overly compliant fearing heavy penalties for breaching the sanctions. That had resulted in inefficient high-cost bank transactions, serious challenges in accessing credit lines and major disruptions in supply-chains, which impinge on the ability to secure infrastructure financing and business continuity. She said this had exacerbated pre-existing social and economic challenges with devastating consequences for the people of Zimbabwe.

"The time is ripe for sanctioning States and key national stakeholders to abandon rhetoric on sanctions as an advocacy tool," Douhan said after a 10-day visit to the country in October last year to assess the impacts of the sanctions.

She said the sanctions had an insidious ripple effect on the economy of Zimbabwe and on the enjoyment of fundamental human rights, including access to health, food, safe drinking water and sanitation, education and employment, and that sanctions were also fuelling corruption and money laundering and over-reliance on the informal sector.

It is estimated that Zimbabwe has suffered a cumulative economic loss of more than $40 billion due to the sanctions over the past 20 years, nearly double its gross domestic product last year.

The sanctions should be condemned by the whole international community, and must be lifted unconditionally and completely.