By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE (Reuters) - The United States said on Thursday itexpects the U.N. Security Council to vote NEXT (NXT.LO)week onsanctions against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and topaides in response to last week's widely condemned election.
U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told reporters after aclosed-door council session he formally submitted theU.S.-drafted resolution, which also calls for an arms embargoagainst Zimbabwe, to the full 15-nation council.
"We expect a vote on the resolution sometime next week,"Khalilzad said.
Mugabe won re-election in a June 27 run-off ballot afteropposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of the votingbecause of attacks on his supporters.
Western powers, led by the United States and Britain, areexerting heavy pressure on Mugabe to negotiate with theopposition. But the veteran leader may have room to manoeuvre.
Security Council diplomats have said South Africa, Russiaand China oppose the idea of sanctions, though they said it wasnot clear if Moscow and Beijing were prepared to use their vetopowers given the wide condemnation of Mugabe's re-election.
In a telephone interview with Reuters, South AfricanAmbassador Dumisani Kumalo indicated he could not back the U.S.draft, saying the very premise of the resolution was faulty.
"The biggest challenge of the resolution is the premisethat the problem of the election is a threat to internationalpeace and security," he said.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, the designatedmediator in Zimbabwe, is under fire in the region and at homefor what is seen as ineffective mediation that favours Mugabe.
Some analysts say Mugabe has embarked on a strategy ofwearing down his opponents and of only making concessions togain breathing space that could delay a resolution to thecrisis for years.
Tsvangirai on Wednesday rejected talks on a unitygovernment, saying Mugabe must first end the violence againsthis supporters and accept him as the rightful election winner.
US EMBASSY
The deadlock will make life even tougher for Zimbabweanswho face the world's highest inflation rate and food and fuelshortages. Millions have fled to neighbouring countries.
More than 200 victims of Zimbabwe's election violence wereseeking refuge in the U.S. embassy in Harare on Thursday.
Embassy spokesman Mark Weinberg said about 230 oppositionMovement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters were sittingoutside the compound hoping for food and a safe place to stay.
"Some of them look injured and I also saw a man incrutches. There are also some mothers with children," he toldReuters.
The sanctions would impose an arms embargo on Zimbabwe andtravel bans and asset freezes on Mugabe and 11 other seniorgovernment and security officials.
Khalilzad said the council had no choice but to respond toZimbabwe's defiance. But they do not want to do anything thatwould harm the country's already-suffering people, he said.
In addition to Mugabe, the draft text, obtained in full byReuters, says Zimbabwean central bank governor Gideon Gono,army chief General Constantine Chiwenga and Happyton Bonyongwe,Zimbabwe's head of intelligence, would also face sanctions.
Leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) industrialised nationswill discuss sharpening sanctions against Zimbabwe at a summitin Japan next week, a senior German government official said.
British government officials told reporters ahead of themeeting a strong reaction to Mugabe's re-election was expected.
"I'd expect there to be a G8 statement on Zimbabwe whichwill be a G8 reaction to what's happened and to be prettytough," said one of the officials.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the internationalcommunity could send a peacekeeping force to stabilise thesouthern African nation.
Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980,has firmly rejected the idea of international forces. Heaccuses Tsvangirai of being a puppet of Western powers.
(Additional reporting by David Clarke in London, GernotHeller in Berlin and Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations;Writing by Michael Georgy, editing by Mary Gabriel)
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