African leaders are using the ongoing United Nations General Assembly to push for an end to a two-decade-long Western embargo against Zimbabwe, arguing that the sanctions are hurting ordinary people and the region. African Union (AU) chairperson and Senegalese President Macky Sall led the charge when he delivered his address at the UNGA 77th session on Tuesday, where he said the sanctions should be removed immediately to enable Zimbabwe to realise its full potential. “The AU once again calls for the lifting of foreign sanctions against Zimbabwe,” President Sall said. “These harsh measures continue to inflict a sense of injustice against an entire people and aggravate their suffering in these times of deep crisis.” Mr Sall’s impassioned plea was echoed by leaders from Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa in their addresses to the UNGA underway in New York. DRC’s President Felix Tshisekedi, the current chair of the Southern African Development Community, described the sanctions on Zimbabwe as “a crime against an innocent people.”
SOURCE: THE EAST AFRICAN