Zimbabwean lobby group the Broad Alliance Against Sanctions (BAAS) has launched a legal bid for reparations from the US over sanctions imposed on the African nation two decades ago.
The BAAS filed its application at the High Court in the capital, Harare, on May 30.
“For the past 23 years, Zimbabwe suffered a lot of losses economically and socially, while people are dying from communicable disease that they’re not supposed to be dying from in the 21st century,” Sally Ngoni, BAAS co-founder and spokesperson, told RT.
The African nation wants the US to recognize that “the citizens of Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe [as a country] is on an equal footing with the US in the UN,” Ngoni said.
According to BAAS member Gibson Nyikadzino, sanctions are an “instrument of coercion” typically used by powerful governments to force weaker states into compliance on certain issues.