UPI NewsTrack TopNews July 3, 2008

Zimbabweans seek help at U.S. embassy

HARARE, Zimbabwe, July 3 (UPI) -- U.S. Embassy workers in Harare, Zimbabwe, Thursday were trying to move to safe houses more than 200 Zimbabweans seeking refuge from election-related violence.

"What we are trying to do, as we have done in past similar cases, is to work with (non-government organizations) and other third parties to see if they can provide assistance to these people," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack during a briefing in Washington.

About 220 people gathered on the sidewalk in Harare adjacent to the embassy, McCormack said. Embassy personnel were working to move most of the women and children into safe houses.

McCormack said the people were forced out of opposition party Movement for Democratic Change headquarters.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from the June 27 runoff, citing violence and intimidation, leaving Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe as the only candidate. Mugabe has been denounced by world leaders for the state-sanctioned campaign of violence against MDC supporters, who say his loyalists killed 80 MDC supporters.

"I think it's fair to assume that they're seeking some form of refuge," McCormack said.

When asked if the group in front of the embassy was safe, the spokesman said he didn't have "any indication" otherwise.

Sanctions against Zimbabwe before U.N.

UNITED NATIONS, July 3 (UPI) -- A resolution that would impose sanctions against Zimbabwean leaders was introduced in the U.N. Security Council Thursday by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad.

"We want to respond to the situation, and respond in a way that encourages a move toward resolving the (election) legitimacy crisis without negatively impacting the people of Zimbabwe who are suffering a great deal in the hands of the regime," Khalilzad told reporters.

The United Nations joined world leaders in denouncing the regime of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, whose party followers waged a campaign of violence and intimidation against opposition party Movement for Democratic Change and its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai withdrew from the June 27 runoff because of the state-sanctioned violence he blamed for deaths of dozens of MDC supporters. World leaders said the election was not legitimate.

The resolution would impose targeted sanctions "on those that are responsible for the political crisis," with the hope that they would be moved to resolve the crisis and create a government that represents the Zimbabwean people.

The resolution also addresses humanitarian concerns, Khalilzad said. It calls for the removal of all obstacles to people receiving the assistance they need because of economic circumstances.

Obama: Troop safety key to Iraq pullout

FARGO, N.D., July 3 (UPI) -- Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., rejected claims Thursday that he has changed his position on withdrawing U.S. combat troops from Iraq.

Reacting to media reports -- including a report Thursday in The Washington Post -- suggesting he had backtracked on a promise to withdraw combat troops within 16 months of taking office, Obama told reporters in Fargo, N.D., what he is saying now is no different from what he said on the subject during the Democratic primary campaign.

"I have always said, and again you can take a look at the language, that as commander in chief I would always reserve the right to do what's best in America's national interests," Obama said in the second of two news conferences in Fargo Thursday. "And if it turned out, for example, that we had to in certain months slow the pace because of the safety of American troops in terms of getting combat troops out, of course we would take that into account."

Obama said he intends to withdraw combat troops in 16 months "at a pace of one to two brigades per month."

Maintaining a long-term occupation in Iraq would be a "strategic error," Obama said, because conditions are worsening in Afghanistan, al-Qaida has regrouped in Iraq and the Iraq war is costing $10 billion to $12 billion each month "that we desperately need here at home."

President breaks ground for new hospital

BETHESDA, Md., July 3 (UPI) -- U.S. President George W. Bush broke ground Thursday on a new hospital in Maryland that will combine services for all branches of the military.

The $970 million Walter Reed National Military Medical Center is scheduled to open in 2011, The Washington Post reported. The hospital is to combine the functions of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Naval Medical Center.

"At this new center, wounds will be healed, medical knowledge will be advanced, lives will be rebuilt," Bush said. "And those who wear our nation's uniform will be reminded that they have the enduring gratitude of the American people."

The hospital is to have 345 beds. Plans for the new hospital grew after the original proposal, partly because of the influx of wounded veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq and because of the scandal about poor conditions in some areas at Walter Reed.

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