Zimbabwe: US blacklists 2 top officials over human rights abuse

The United States Treasury Department has slapped sanctions on Zimbabwe’s state security minister and the country’s ambassador to Tanzania over human rights abuses.

 

Owen Ncube, Zimbabwe’s state security minister, was blacklisted over accusations that he ordered security services to abduct and mistreat members of the opposition group, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

 

Washington also imposed sanctions on Anselem Sanyatwe, Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Tanzania, accusing him of directing security forces to attack protestors during demonstrations after the 2018 elections, when he was commander of the National Army’s Presidential Guard Brigade.

 

The two men are already barred from entering the US and will now have any US-based assets frozen.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a statement on Wednesday urged Zimbabwe’s government “to immediately end state-sponsored violence including against peaceful protesters, civil society, labor leaders and members of the opposition in Zimbabwe, and to investigate and hold accountable those responsible for human rights violations and abuse.”

 

“Today’s sanctions make clear that the US will not tolerate the use [of] our financial system by human rights abusers in Zimbabwe”, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted on Wednesday.