Russia, China veto UN sanctions on Zimbabwe

China and Russia on Friday vetoed targeted UN sanctions on Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe over his disputed re-election, prompting an angry reaction from the United States, which cast doubt on Moscow's reliability as a G8 partner.
The Chinese and Russian envoys joined their colleagues from South Africa, Libya and Vietnam in opposing a US draft resolution in the Security Council which would have imposed an assets freeze and a travel ban on Mugabe and 13 of his cronies, as well as an arms embargo. Indonesia abstained.
It was the first double veto by Russia and China since January 2007 when they vetoed a draft resolution in the 15-member council that would have urged Myanmar to ease repression and release political prisoners.
Voting in favour in Friday's vote were the United States, Britain, France, Burkina Faso, Belgium, Costa Rica, Italy, Panama and Croatia.
"China and Russia have stood with Mugabe against the people of Zimbabwe," US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad fumed.
Zimbabwe's government rejoiced Saturday at the failure of a UN bid to impose fresh sanctions on President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle, but there was exasperation in London and Washington.
Particular praise from the Harare regime was bestowed upon South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been criticised for his policy of "quiet diplomacy" by those who want to put Mugabe under greater pressure.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the decision would be "incomprehensible" to the people of Zimbabwe and America's UN envoy warned that Russia's veto cast doubt on its reliability as a G8 ally. Russian later slammed this criticism as "unacceptable.”
Sponsors of the draft said the sanctions were needed to pressure Mugabe into stopping the violence against his political foes and agreeing to a genuine power sharing deal with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Mugabe was re-elected in a run-off last month after the main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out, citing a campaign of intimidation and violence against his supporters that killed dozens and injured thousands.
Tsvangirai had earlier won the first round but fell short of a majority, according to the official results.
Mbeki is trying to mediate between Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), but has come in for increasing stick, particularly from Britain and the United States, for not being more outspoken against Mugabe.
"We are surprised by what appears as Mbeki appearing to protect Mugabe while Mugabe uses violent means to fragment the opposition," US Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad said after the UN vote.
"I think he (Mbeki) is out of touch with the trends inside his own country," he added.
The South African government insisted, however, that dialogue between Zimbabwe's rival political parties would be enhanced by the rejection of the sanctions.
"It is our considered view that imposing sanctions would indeed have impacted negatively on the current dialogue process among Zimbabwean political parties," a foreign ministry statement said.
The role of the international community was to encourage dialogue "with a view to the creation of peace, stability, democracy and reconciliation," the statement said.
A second day of talks between representatives of ZANU-PF and the MDC were held in South Africa on Friday as the parties laid the ground for substantive negotiations on the country's crisis.
The talks were the first since Mugabe won his sixth consecutive term since independence in 1980 in a June 27 presidential poll widely denounced as a sham.
The MDC has insisted substantive negotiations could only take place if violence is halted and over 1,500 "political prisoners" are released.
They have also called for an expanded mediation team including an African Union permanent envoy and the swearing in of lawmakers as the opposition now controls parliament.