Rights group: Zimbabweans want sanctions

TOYAKO, Japan, July 9 (UPI) -- The refusal of African nations to back the Group of Eight's call for sanctions on Zimbabwe goes against the wishes of most citizens, a human rights group says.

The G8 nations, meeting at this week's summit in Japan, agreed Tuesday to impose stiffer sanctions on the regime of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party but some African leaders disagreed, saying they would be counterproductive.

Most Zimbabweans, however, strongly support the G8's approach and want the international community to punish Mugabe for using violence and intimidation to defeat the Movement for Democratic Change in last month's presidential elections, a human rights campaigner told the Voice of America.

"Zimbabweans generally support any action against the Mugabe regime and for Mugabe to start ... (negotiating) on an equal basis with the opposition," Busani Ncube, logistics director of The Bulawayo Project told the VOA. "They are supporting any move or decision taken by the G8 leaders to impose further sanctions on the leadership of ZANU-PF and the government."

Ncube said Zimbabweans were "very disappointed with some African leaders who seem willing to postpone the Zimbabwe crisis."