    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book I)]
    [June 25, 2008]
    [Pages 868-869]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in a Meeting With United Nations Security Council Permanent
    Representatives
    June 25, 2008

        The President. Mr. Ambassador----
        Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. Sir.
        The President. ----it's good to see you again.
        Ambassador Khalilzad. It's good to see
    you.
        The President. Thank you very much for bringing your colleagues from
    the United

    [[Page 869]]

    Nations Security Council. And first, I want to thank you all very much
    for serving your respective countries. And thank you for being voices
    for peace and freedom.
        We've had a really good discussion. We talked about a U.N. Security
    Council role for Darfur and Burma. We talked a little bit about Iran and
    how the United Nations Security Council is sending a focused message
    that the world really offers Iran a better way forward than isolation if
    they will verifiably suspend their enrichment programs.
        And then we talked about Zimbabwe. Friday's elections, you know,
    appear to be a sham. You can't have free elections if a candidate is not
    allowed to campaign freely and his supporters aren't allowed to campaign
    without fear of intimidation. Yet the Mugabe
    Government has been intimidating the people on the ground in Zimbabwe,
    and this is an incredibly sad development.
        I hope that the EU--I call--AU will, at their meeting this weekend,
    continue to highlight the illegitimacy of the elections, continue to
    remind the world that this election is not free and is not fair.
        I want to thank very much the leaders in the region, those who have
    stepped up and spoke clearly. I appreciate them doing their--taking
    their responsibility seriously. And I want to thank the members here
    around the table of the United Nations Security Council for your strong
    Presidential statement. It was a powerful statement for fairness and
    decency and human dignity. And I suspect you'll still be dealing with
    this issue. And as you do, I hope you continue to speak with the same
    clarity that you spoke with last Monday.
        People of Zimbabwe deserve better than what they're receiving now.
    People there want to express themselves at the ballot box, yet the
    Mugabe Government has refused to allow them to
    do so. This is not just, and it is wrong.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:31 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the
    White House. In his remarks, he referred to Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad,
    U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations; and President
    Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.