From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Tue Jul 01 2008 - 13:45:15 EDT
*USA urges AU to reject Mugabe's re-election *
2008-07-01
*APA-Lagos (Nigeria)* The United States government has urged member
countries of the African Union (AU) to reject the re-election of President
Robert Mugabe, APA has learnt here.
Deputy Spokesman of the US Department of State, Tom Casey, said in a
statement issued Monday at the US Embassy in Abuja that \"Mugabe\'s action
has shown a rejection of the will of the Zimbabwean people and is an abuse
of their fundamental human rights\".
Casey urged the AU summit, holding in Egypt, to support a joint AU/United
Nations/ Southern African Development Community (SADC) negotiating team that
would work toward a resolution of a political crisis that reflects the will
of the Zimbabwean people as expressed on March 29. \"The Government of
Zimbabwe has followed a sham election with an illegitimate inauguration. As
the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Troika and election
observer mission, as well as many African leaders have already said, any
outcome from this illegitimate runoff cannot be considered credible.
"We condemn the actions of the Mugabe regime, which continues to reject the
will of the Zimbabwean people, abuse their human rights, and deny them
humanitarian assistance,\" said Casey.
The US government would support a legitimate, democratically elected
government of Zimbabwe with assistance in the form of debt relief,
normalisation of relations with international financial institutions, and
development assistance, Casey said.
He said, \"In the meantime, the United States will not abandon the people of
Zimbabwe. We will continue to provide direct humanitarian assistance to feed
more than one million people and provide treatment to more than 40,000 needy
patients.\"
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