US 'displeased' with China, Russia over Zimbabwe

AFP, July, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President George W. Bush said Tuesday he was "displeased" with Russia and China for blocking UN sanctions against Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe and warned Washington could still act on its own.

Moscow and Beijing on Friday vetoed a US-sponsored draft at the UN Security Council that called for an assets freeze and a travel ban on President Mugabe and 13 of his associates as well as an arms embargo.

"I was displeased," Bush told a news conference. "We spent a lot of time on this subject at the G8."

At its summit in Japan last week, the Group of Eight (G8) leading industrial countries discussed the need for UN Security Council resolutions against the regime of Mugabe, who has been in power since 1981.

"I was disappointed that the Russians vetoed" the resolution, he added. Russia -- but not China -- is on ...