Senegal leader rejects sanctions call on Zimbabwe

TOYAKO, Japan (AFP) — Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade told AFP on Tuesday that he had urged Group of Eight powers meeting in Japan not to slap sanctions on Zimbabwe over its contested election.
Wade was one of seven African leaders of state invited to the summit of the G8 where some leaders pressed for tough action on President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe.
“I said that sanctions wouldn’t be useful and that they wouldn’t change the regime,” Wade told AFP.
He said he spoke first at a special session on Africa on Monday that also included South African President Thabo Mbeki.
“I was supported by all African leaders,” he said. “We Africans called for a continuation of mediation that’s underway.”
“I understand that Westerners have to react to public opinion, which is shocked by images of massacres. They can’t not react. But for us Africans, sanctions aren’t going to resolve anything,” he said.
Wade said he had asked German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy in separate meetings for the G8 leaders at least to delay sanctions if they insist on imposing them.
“I asked for a delay in applying sanctions by two or three months to give time” for mediation, he said. “They understand this request.”
US President George W. Bush said Monday he was “extremely disappointed” with Zimbabwe’s “sham” election. President Sarkozy said he would back sanctions as Mugabe’s regime “tarnishes the image of all of Africa.”
Mugabe was elected to a sixth term on June 27 despite widespread international condemnation.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who won the first round but fell short of a majority, pulled out of the contest, citing a campaign of violence and intimidation.
The G8 groups Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.