Zimbabwe slams US interference in its domestic affairs

The Zimbabwean government has accused the United States of interfering in its domestic affairs by threatening to introduce economic sanctions against the African nation.

The US Congress has passed a bill threatening to block all aid or debt relief to Zimbabwe and to freeze new investment in the country. Simbi Mubako, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to the US, said the move is impinging on his country’s national sovereignty.

The US sanctions package was designed because Zimbabwe’s President, Robert Mugabe, and his ruling Zanu-PF party are allegedly abusing human rights as part of their ambitious land reform plans.

Hundreds of white farmers in Zimbabwe have been attacked or evicted from their land in the past year by gangs enforcing the land reform. At present, around 4,500 white farmers, descendants of British colonialists, own more than 90% of the arable farmland in Zimbabwe.

Mr Mugabe has promised to redistribute this land among the country’s impoverished and indigenous black population.