Zimbabwe Mnangagwa Urges Nations Targeted by Western Sanctions to Unite

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday urged nations targeted by Western sanctions to band together as he hosted the leader of fellow international outlier Iran.

President Ebrahim Raisi arrived for the last leg of the first Africa tour by an Iranian leader in 11 years, on a tour aimed at easing the Islamic republic’s international isolation. Raisi is the highest profile leader to visit Zimbabwe in the thick of an election campaign for a closely-watched August 23 presidential and parliamentary vote.

Mnangagwa, 80, who is seeking re-election in what analysts predict will be a tense ballot, has long blamed his country’s dire economic straits on sanctions imposed by the United States and European Union. Western countries retort that the measures target specific individuals accused of graft and human rights abuses rather than the whole country.