Zimbabwe will not give up on anti-sanction fight: FM

HARARE, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) — Zimbabwe will not relent in its anti-sanction fight despite the partial lifting of sanctions by the United States early this year, Zimbabwean Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Frederick Shava has said.
Zimbabwe will mount a strong anti-sanction campaign on Oct. 25, a day that has been set aside by the 16-member Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional bloc, since 2019 to show solidarity with Zimbabwe against the decades-long sanctions, the foreign minister said.
“We want a total removal of sanctions on Zimbabwe because they are illegal, so we are going to have a campaign in Zimbabwe to drum up the issue of the removal of sanctions on Oct. 25,” Shava told a post-Cabinet media briefing Tuesday.
He said the campaign will coincide with the 21st National People’s Conference of Zimbabwe’s ruling party ZANU PF, which will take place in the country’s second-largest city of Bulawayo from Oct. 22 to 27. Shava noted most anti-sanction events will be held in Bulawayo during this period.
This year marks the fifth anniversary of the SADC anti-sanction day and Zimbabwe will continue to honor this event and encourage people to campaign for the total removal of the illegal sanctions, Shava said.
U.S. President Joe Biden in March signed an executive order to terminate a Zimbabwe sanctions program that has been in effect since 2003 but at the same time imposed sanctions on 11 Zimbabwean individuals, including President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and three entities, over their alleged involvement in corruption or human right abuses under America’s Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. ■