Tough Mugabe

The warning, in a letter to the Security Council from Zimbabwe's U.N. mission, came as disagreements continued within the 15-member council over the southern African nation's crisis, delaying a vote on the U.S.-drafted resolution.

The text includes an arms embargo on President Robert Mugabe's government and financial and travel restrictions on 14 officials for holding the June 27 presidential poll boycotted by opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai.

Zimbabwe's letter said the country was "not at war with itself" and posed no threat to its neighbours or any other country, and therefore not a subject for council action.

Describing its problems as a "bilateral quarrel" with former colonial ruler Britain, the letter said London and its ally Washington wanted to punish Zimbabwe for its land reform program, which awarded many white-owned farms to blacks.

The letter admitted there had been violence in Zimbabwe but accused Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of premeditating, planning, stage-managing and exaggerating it.

It said the "punitive resolution" would "somalianize" the country by removing its elected government. Somalia, in the Horn of Africa, has been the scene of constant clashes between warring factions for the past 17 years.

The resolution would "most probably start a civil war in the country because, in their obsession with 'regime change,' Britain and the USA are determined to ignore real, entrenched, fundamental and enduring issues that lie at the heart of Zimbabwe's internal politics," it added.

The letter said Harare was open to mediation efforts by South African President Thabo Mbeki. Zimbabwe's ruling party and the MDC held talks in Pretoria on Thursday, although the MDC said they were not substantive negotiations.

The United States had wanted the sanctions resolution to come to a vote on Wednesday but by Thursday evening no vote had taken place. Western countries hoped for one on Friday.

Envoys of countries sceptical of, or opposed to, sanctions, including South Africa, Vietnam and veto-holding Russia and China, have said they were still awaiting instructions from their capitals on how to vote.

Vietnamese Ambassador Le Luong Minh, asked if the Pretoria talks should be given some time before there was a vote, told reporters: "That is our national position and it is the position shared by many members of the council."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters sanctions were up to the council but he hoped the talks would lead to a solution. "Whenever it is necessary I will be prepared to engage myself in this," he said.

Source: Reuters 

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