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US may impose sanctions against Zimbabwe in 2 weeks

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-01 00:03

WASHINGTON  -- The United States will possibly announce new diplomatic and economic sanctions against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his government in "a week or two," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Monday.

"I don't think it'll take that long to develop, but we just need to give them maybe a week or two to think about that," Perino said of the forthcoming sanctions against Zimbabwe. "Let's see what they come up with."

US President George W. Bush said Saturday that the United States was planning new sanctions against Zimbabwe following the disputed presidential run-off election in the southern African country Friday.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson have been ordered to develop the new penalties against Mugabe's "illegitimate government," Bush said in a statement.

Mugabe was sworn-in for his sixth five-year term in office Sunday, after being declared the winner of Friday's presidential run-off poll.

The run-off was actually a one-man race as Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai announced his withdrawal five days before the election was held, though the withdrawal was dismissed by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, saying it was too late.

The US State Department described Zimbabwe's presidential election as a "sham process" and urged the African Union and the United Nations to increase pressure on the Zimbabwean government.