US Tightens Sanctions against Mugabe, Provides $2.5M for IDPs

US President George W. Bush has signed an executive order strengthening sanctions against close associates of Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe, as talks to resolve the country’s political crisis continue in South Africa. Seventeen individuals and companies linked to the Mugabe regime were added to the US blacklist, including four government companies, several Zimbabwean academics and journalists, and an Omani national. Bush also announced that the US would provide $2.5 million in aid to assist Zimbabwean refugees and asylum seekers who were displaced due to political violence. [PE]