[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3722 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
111th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3722
To repeal the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
August 5, 2010
Mr. Inhofe introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To repeal the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Zimbabwe Sanctions Repeal Act of
2010''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Robert Mugabe, President of Zimbabwe and leader of the
Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, has ruled
Zimbabwe for 30 years.
(2) During President Mugabe's regime, Zimbabwe has gone
from being the ``bread basket'' of Africa to the world's
fastest shrinking economy.
(3) In 2000, the Government of Zimbabwe initiated a
farmland redistribution program, designed to reallocate foreign
commercial farmland to poor and middle-class citizens of
Zimbabwe.
(4) The redistribution program led to the confiscation of
industrial, fertile, and previously settled lands, led to mass
chaos, undermined the Constitution of Zimbabwe, and caused more
than 400,000 farmers to lose their homes and livelihoods.
(5) In 2005, President Mugabe implemented a project known
as Operation Murambatsvina, translated into English as
Operation ``Clean Out the Filth''.
(6) Under Operation Clean Out the Filth, the Mugabe regime
bulldozed and destroyed thousands of homes and businesses,
leading to an estimated 700,000 internally displaced persons.
(7) The majority of the people of Zimbabwe live on less
than one dollar a day.
(8) The current unemployment rate in Zimbabwe is 95
percent, which has forced an estimated 3,000,000 of the people
of Zimbabwe, a quarter of the overall population, to migrate to
neighboring countries.
(9) All of those actions by President Mugabe's regime have
caused significant economic hardships that persist in Zimbabwe.
(10) Presidential elections were held on March 29, 2008,
between President Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the
opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change.
(11) Tsvangirai won 47.8 percent of the vote, compared to
President Mugabe's 43.2 percent.
(12) Because Tsvangirai failed to achieve 50 percent of the
votes needed to win outright, a run-off was scheduled for June
27, 2008.
(13) President Mugabe declared that, regardless of the
election outcome, he would not relinquish power, and directed a
crackdown on opposition parties, stating, ``Only God, who
appointed me, will remove me''.
(14) As many as 400 members and supporters of the Movement
for Democratic Change were killed during the run-off campaign
period.
(15) Tsvangirai dropped out of the run-off race, and took
refuge in the Embassy of the Netherlands, stating that he could
not ask people to vote ``when that vote could cost them their
lives''.
(16) The violence surrounding this unfair election came to
the world's attention and specifically to that of the Southern
African Development Community, compromised of 15 southern
African countries, and the United States.
(17) Pressure from the Southern African Development
Community and the United States led to the creation of a power-
sharing agreement between Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National
Union-Patriotic Front and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic
Change called the Global Political Agreement, which was signed
into effect on September 15, 2008.
(18) The Parliament of Zimbabwe amended the Constitution of
Zimbabwe to allow for the creation of the power-sharing
government.
(19) Mugabe remained President and Tsvangirai was sworn in
as the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe on February 11, 2009, and
Tendai Biti was appointed Minister of Finance by Prime Minister
Tsvangirai.
(20) Since the appointment of Biti as Minister of Finance,
the economy of Zimbabwe has seen remarkable recovery in a short
period of time. For example, to combat inflation, Minister Biti
abandoned the currency of Zimbabwe and adopted foreign
currencies, including the United States dollar and South
African rand, and subsequently reduced the previous inflation
rate of 15,000,000,000 percent in 2008 to 5.1 percent one year
later.
(21) During Biti's time as Minister of Finance, the real
gross domestic product of Zimbabwe also improved, increasing
from negative 14.4 percent in 2008 to a positive 3.7 percent in
2009.
(22) The salaries of government employees have also been
reissued, allowing those employed in basic government services
like medicine, education, and transportation to return to work.
(23) The overall economy and well-being of the citizens of
Zimbabwe have made tremendous advances since Tsvangirai and the
Movement for Democratic Change have gained power-sharing
authority in the Government of Zimbabwe.
(24) In 2001, the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery
Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-99; 22 U.S.C. 2151 note) was
enacted into law in the United States, imposing sanctions on
the Mugabe regime and members of the Zimbabwe African National
Union-Patriotic Front.
(25) Section 4(c) of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic
Recovery Act of 2001 specifically directs the United States
Executive Director to each international financial institution
to oppose and vote against any extension by the institution of
any loan, credit, or guarantee to the Government of Zimbabwe or
any cancellation or reduction of indebtedness owed by the
Government of Zimbabwe to the United States or any
international financial institution.
(26) In order to restore fully the economy of Zimbabwe and
assist in the process of transition to democracy, the sanctions
imposed under the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act
of 2001 and burdening the power-sharing government in Zimbabwe
must be repealed.
SEC. 3. REPEAL OF ZIMBABWE DEMOCRACY AND ECONOMIC RECOVERY ACT OF 2001.
The Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001 (Public
Law 107-99; 22 U.S.C. 2151 note) is repealed.
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