Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa is appealing for patience for his efforts to pull his country out of an economic collapse, and called on the U.S. and Europe to lift « illegal sanctions » that he blamed for hindering recovery.
Mnangagwa made no mention during an address to the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday of alleged political repression under his rule, which has diminishes hopes that Zimbabwe might be on the brink of change following the 2017 ouster of longtime leader Robert Mugabe, who died in Singapore earlier this month.
More than 50 government critics and activists have been abducted in Zimbabwe this year, at times tortured and warned by suspected state security agents to back off from anti-government actions.
Critics have accused Mnangagwe of resorting to strong-armed tactics as opposition to his government grows amid crippling inflation, debilitating water shortages and chronic power cuts.