US Hits Zimbabwe With New Sanctions; Experts Say They Won’t Work

Fresh penalties are designed to put financial squeeze on officials, including the president and his wife, as key China ally lurches from crisis to crisis.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa reviews a military honor guard with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on April 3, 2018. Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images

JOHANNESBURG—President Joe Biden has replaced a 21-year-old set of sanctions against Zimbabwe with new measures targeted more narrowly at key ruling party officials in the crisis-racked southern African nation.

In 2003, the United States sanctioned 76 Zimbabwean government officials, including then-President Robert Mugabe, accusing them of “undermining democracy” in the impoverished nation for their alleged corruption and human rights violations, which included the murders of political opponents.