The White House, President George W. Bush Click to print this document

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
July 25, 2008

Message To the Congress of the United States

Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, as amended (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), I hereby report that I have issued an Executive Order (the "order") that expands the scope of the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13288 of March 6, 2003, which was relied upon for additional steps taken in Executive Order 13391 of November 22, 2005, and takes additional steps with respect to that national emergency.

In Executive Order 13288, I found that the actions and policies of certain members of the Government of Zimbabwe and other persons to undermine Zimbabwe's democratic processes or institutions constituted an unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy of the United States and declared a national emergency to deal with that threat. Executive Order 13288 blocks the property and interests in property of the persons listed in its Annex and permits the designation of any person or entity owned or controlled by, or acting or purporting to act directly or indirectly for or on behalf of, any person listed in that Annex.

Executive Order 13391 took additional steps to address the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13288 and amended the provisions of that earlier order. Executive Order 13391 blocks the property of the persons and entities listed in its Annex and permits the designation of any person or entity determined: to have engaged in actions or policies to undermine Zimbabwe's democratic processes or institutions; to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services in support of, such actions or policies or any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to Executive Order 13288, as amended; to be or have been an immediate family member of any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to Executive Order 13288, as amended; or to be owned or controlled by, or acting or purporting to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to Executive Order 13288, as amended.

I have now determined that the continued actions and policies of the Government of Zimbabwe and other persons to undermine Zimbabwe's democratic processes or institutions, manifested most recently in the fundamentally undemocratic election held on June 27, 2008, to commit acts of violence and other human rights abuses against political opponents, and to engage in public corruption, including the misuse of public authority, warrant an expansion of the existing national emergency and the existing sanctions with respect to Zimbabwe. The order supplements the designation criteria set forth in Executive Order 13288, as amended by Executive Order 13391, and provides additional criteria for designation of any person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation with the Secretary of State: to be a senior official of the Government of Zimbabwe; to be owned or controlled by, directly or indirectly, the Government of Zimbabwe or an official or officials of the Government of Zimbabwe; to be responsible for, or to have participated in, human rights abuses related to political repression in Zimbabwe; to be engaged in, or to have engaged in, activities facilitating public corruption by senior officials of the Government of Zimbabwe; or to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, logistical, or technical support for, or goods or services in support of, the Government of Zimbabwe, any senior official thereof, or any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to Executive Order 13288, Executive Order 13391, or the order.

The order also restates existing designation authority to block the property and interests in property of persons determined to have engaged in actions or policies to undermine Zimbabwe's democratic processes or institutions. Finally, the order restates existing derivative designation authority and adds derivative designation authority to block the property and interests in property of persons determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation with the Secretary of State, to be owned or controlled by, or to have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, or to be a spouse or dependant child of, any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to Executive Order 13288, Executive Order 13391, or the order.

In the order, I delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury, after consultation with the Secretary of State, the authority to take such actions, including the promulgation of rules and regulations, as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of the order.

I am enclosing a copy of the Executive Order I have issued.

GEORGE W. BUSH

THE WHITE HOUSE,

July 25, 2008.

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