LONDON, March 19 (UPI) -- The British government is urging the U.N. human rights council to take action against the Robert Mugabe government for maltreating the opposition.
Calling the escalating crisis in Zimbabwe, a test of the human rights council's power, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said contrary to Mugabe's believe, the situation was not between he and Britain but he and the world.
"What is not true is either that Britain is the only country in the world that is desperately concerned at the plight of the Zimbabwe," Beckett said in an interview with the Times Monday.
The foreign secretary said her government was trying to gather information regarding people personally responsible for beating and torturing members of the opposition, so as to ensure their names were included among those "being targeted by the international community."
While reaffirming her belief in Mugabe complicity in the attacks, she reiterated the commitment of the British government to strengthen bans by the European Union on guilty members of the government.
"He is in charge of the government. He has made it very clear that this is a deliberate act of policy on the part of the government of Zimbabwe and that he is indifferent to the real I think horror that is felt right across the International community," Beckett argued.
She said they were "trying to approach the issue in a way which doesn't give him the excuse to pretend it's all just about the relationship between him" and Britain as it would result in Zimbabweans suffering more.
