A report in the Insider has reiterated that sanctions were as a punishment of the infamous land reform and Zimbabwe’s involvement in DRC war in the late 90s.
The report which dismisses the notion that sanctions came as a result of human rights abuse claim the human rights abuse narrative was conveniently used to front the reason for sanctions while the real reasons were hidden.
The report reads in part:
ZDERA was first enacted in 2001, when the US sided with Britain, in the latter’s bilateral dispute with Harare over the fast-track land reform programme, which sought to fulfil the main liberation war objective of land redistribution to the majority of Zimbabweans.
Further, the Americans were miffed by Zimbabwe’s intervention in the DRC war, where the US had vested interests.However, the US disguised its true reasons for unilaterally imposing the illegal sanctions, citing the alleged violent nature of the land redistribution exercise. The US successfully sold the false story that all Zimbabwe had to do was to embark on wide ranging property rights and political reforms as a prerequisite for the lifting of the sanctions.
Zimbabwe has been under targetted sanctions for close to 2 decades with both the EU and the US stating that the sanctions are not hurting ordinary Zimbabwe but the government claim otherwise.
More: The Sunday Mail