US Government Imposes Targeted Sanctions against Zimbabwe's Senior Officials

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, February 27, 2002

US Government Imposes Targeted Sanctions against Zimbabwe's Senior Officials

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on Tuesday that his country does not seek a quarrel with the United States.

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Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said on Tuesday that his country does not seek a quarrel with the United States.

If the U.S. wanted to pick a quarrel with the country, Zimbabwe would defend its sovereignty, said Mugabe in a rally of Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) in Epworth Suburb of Harare.

"This is no longer the era of colonialism, I would not let you down and nothing will come in my way that will make me surrender on the land issue. In fact I do not know the word surrender in my vocabulary," he added.

Mugabe made the remarks in response to the imposition of targeted sanctions on senior Zimbabwean government officials by the U.S. on accusations that conditions for a free and fair presidential election had been eroded.

"Zimbabwe did not intervene in U.S. presidential election last year which took a month before the results were announced." "Since we did not intervene in the U.S. election, the U.S. must leave us alone," Mugabe said.

The U.S. and Britain were supporting the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), but this would not deter the government in achieving one of the main goals of the liberation struggle to give land to the people, he added.

In the rally, Mugabe also urged people to vote for ZANU-PF during the forthcoming presidential poll.

"Let us correct the mistake which you made in the 2002 parliamentary election when you voted for MDC," he said.

"We want to do this in peace so that we do not give our enemies excuses as they can fan violence and blame us for causing the violence," he added.

The U.S. government imposed targeted sanctions against Zimbabwe 's senior officials last weekend, following the sanctions by the European Union about a week ago.

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