British Prime Minster Gordon Brown will press the European Union to take harsher action against Zimbabwe, after Russia and China vetoed proposed new sanctions at the U.N. Security Council, his office said Saturday.Brown plans to discuss EU action against President Robert Mugabe's regime when the British leader meets with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana at a summit starting Sunday in Paris.
The three will be among 43 leaders of European, Middle Eastern and North African nations at the summit.
Brown's office said he would propose new EU travel bans on members of Mugabe's government and action against companies owned by Mugabe allies.
Russia and China on Friday vetoed a proposal from the United States and Britain for a new U.N. arms embargo and other punitive measures against Zimbabwe's president and top aides. Western powers mustered nine votes, the minimum needed to gain approval in the 15-nation council, but the action failed because of the vetoes by two of the five permanent members.
| And Obama wants 'tougher sanctions' on Iran. Oh yeah, that'll work well in a U.N. that can't even sanction Zimbabwe ... |
Zimbabwe's opposition party said Friday that at least 113 of its members have been killed in political violence since March.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Britain would continue to press Mugabe over government-backed violence and intimidation of the opposition during Zimbabwe's first-round presidential vote in March and runoff ballot in June. "Mugabe is more isolated within his own country than ever before," Miliband told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. "We have got to make sure, though, that the final hold that he has on power, which is at a barrel of a gun, is as short as possible because the misery for those people is absolutely overwhelming."