G8 leaders demand tougher sanctions against Mugabe regime

backing for prime minister’s call for un envoy to be sent to zimbabwe to broker peace deal

By Joe Churcher

Published:

HAPPY FAMILY: from left, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, U.S. President George Bush, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, Gordon Brown and German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Pressure on Robert Mugabe intensified yesterday when G8 leaders united to demand tougher sanctions against his regime in what Gordon Brown called the “strongest” sign of international condemnation.

The prime minister said all eight nations were outraged by Mr Mugabe’s controversial re-election as they backed his calls for a UN envoy to be sent to Zimbabwe to broker a deal with the opposition.

Their strongly-worded statement came in the wake of agreements to accept a climate change target and stick to foreign-aid pledges – hailed by the PM but roundly condemned as inadequate by campaigners.

Mr Brown said the agreement to cut global carbon emissions in half by 2050 – previously rejected by US President George Bush – represented “major progress” in combating global warming despite no interim targets being set or any baseline from which to measure the cut agreed.

It is a step further than last year’s statement that the leading industrialised nations would “seriously consider” such a move, but it was dismissed as an “elaborate smokescreen” by Friends of the Earth.

The prime minister will refocus on Zimbabwe today when he meets South African President Thabo Mbeki, criticised for his failure to condemn Mr Mugabe, for talks.

“This is the strongest statement,” he said.

“It shows the unity of the whole international community, reflecting the outrage people feel about the violence and intimidation and the illegitimate holding of power by the Mugabe government.

“To bring together Russia, France, Germany, Italy, America and Canada, all the G8 countries, with Japan, in putting this statement forward, shows that the whole international community is now not prepared to accept an illegitimate government.”

The agreement of all G8 leaders, who debated the issue at their annual summit in Japan, will further increase pressure on Mr Mugabe following his declared victory last month in an election campaign marred by violence and the withdrawal of his only rival over brutality against his supporters.

A United Nations Security Council Resolution setting out the tougher stance is expected to be tabled by the United States soon.

Among those criticising the climate change deal was Greenpeace executive director John Sauven who said setting “ambiguous long-term targets” for all countries instead of tough ones on themselves showed the leaders were engaged in “a festival of vacuous back-slapping that bore no relation to the scientific reality we face”.

“Thank God this was Bush’s last G8,” he said of the outgoing president.

The target agreement comes before a major UN summit next year in Copenhagen to find a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.

“There has been major progress on the climate change agenda, beyond what people thought possible a few months ago,” Mr Brown said. “Countries which previously objected to setting overall targets have accepted these targets.”

He also set out a vision of British families driving electric cars after the leaders agreed a list of 25 areas – including vehicles – in which to set new energy efficiency targets to help reduce oil dependency.

In a victory for Mr Brown, fellow leaders also insisted they would not abandon a pledge made at the Gleneagles summit in 2005 to double development aid by 2010. They also agreed to spend more than £70billion on malaria nets, school places, modernising agriculture and combating diseases.

“We are delivering everything we promised; other countries will do the same,” said Mr Brown.

“Ten million children will go to school. Malaria nets will save thousands and more healthcare. These are big concrete changes.”

He dismissed controversy over a large banquet enjoyed by the leaders and spouses on Monday shortly after they had been discussing world food prices.

It had been a three-course dinner, he insisted, not the eight reported and what mattered in the end was that the summit yielded good decisions, which it had.

Western supporters last night claimed there is now enough support for the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Robert Mugabe’s government.

A vote on proposed sanctions is expected this week.

France’s UN ambassador, Jean-Maurice Ripert, told reporters Zimbabwe’s crisis posed a threat to international peace and security — a requirement for the council’s involvement — “due to the massive violation of human rights”.