FACTBOX: Sanctions on Zimbabwe
(Reuters) - The United States will bring up the issue of further sanctions against Zimbabwe in the United Nations Security Council, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday.
Below are details of sanctions and restrictions already in place against Zimbabwe and other measures that could be considered.
VISA BANS AND ASSET FREEZES:
-- The European Union imposed a visa ban on President Robert Mugabe and 19 of his top officials in 2002 because of the way Zimbabwe treated observers sent to monitor presidential elections.
-- That has now been expanded to more than 100 of Mugabe's closest aides and family.
-- The European Union has also frozen the overseas assets of the same list of Zimbabweans who are subject to its visa ban.
-- The United States first imposed sanctions in March 2003 and later widened them to apply to a total of about 250 people accused of undermining democracy.
-- The U.S. sanctions also bar Americans from engaging in any transactions or dealings with them.
ARMS EMBARGOES:
-- The European Union has an embargo on the sale and supply of arms and technical advice and of equipment which could be used for internal repression in Zimbabwe.
-- The embargo also prohibits technical and financial assistance related to military activities.
-- The United States has a ban on transfers of defense items and services, and a suspension of non-humanitarian government-to-government assistance.
-- The United States welcomed an idea from Britain for a full arms embargo.
-- A shipment of Chinese arms bound for Zimbabwe was recalled in April after port workers in the region refused to unload it and Western countries urged a stop to arms supplies.
ISOLATION:
-- The Commonwealth group of mainly former British colonies suspended Zimbabwe in early 2002 on the grounds that Mugabe had rigged his re-election and persecuted his opponents.
-- Zimbabwe formally withdrew from the 54-nation group in 2003 after the suspension was extended indefinitely.
-- The International Monetary Fund suspended technical assistance to Zimbabwe in 2002 over its failure to clear arrears and address its dire economic and social crisis.
-- It has averted expulsion by making small payments towards clearing arrears.
-- Britain's Queen Elizabeth stripped Mugabe of an honorary knighthood awarded in 1994. The foreign ministry said that the action was taken as a mark of revulsion at the abuse of human rights and abject disregard for the democratic process.
SPORT:
-- A 2007 cricket tour of Zimbabwe by Australia was cancelled on the orders of Australia's government.
-- Cricket South Africa, which had been one of Zimbabwe's strongest backers, suspended domestic agreements with the Zimbabwe Cricket Union on June 23.
-- Two days later, the England and Wales Cricket Board cancelled Zimbabwe's 2009 tour of England under instructions from the British government. The ECB said it had suspended all bilateral arrangements with Zimbabwe Cricket.
POSSIBLE NEW MEASURES:
-- U.S. Secretary of State Rice said on Friday at a G8 summit in Japan that there were those in the international community who thought the Security Council should take up sanctions against Zimbabwe.
-- Italy said it wants European Union foreign ministers to discuss recalling European ambassadors from Zimbabwe.
-- Britain said this week it is preparing tougher sanctions against specific members of the Zimbabwean government and urged world leaders to work together to remove Mugabe from power.
-- So far sanctions have targeted Zimbabwe's elite rather than the country as a whole. Few countries would back measures that could mean more pain for ordinary Zimbabweans.
Sources: Reuters/EU//www.state.gov
