[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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