The United Stateshas imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe's state security minister, Owen Ncube, overwhat it says is credible information of his involvement in "grossviolations of human rights," U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said onFriday.
Pompeo said in astatement that Washington was troubled by the "Zimbabwean government's useof state-sanctioned violence against" protesters, opposition leaders andlabor leaders.
Two years after theouster of Zimbabwe's longtime ruler Robert Mugabe by the army and PresidentEmmerson Mnangagwa, people are still grappling with triple-digit inflation andshortages of basic goods like fuel.
Last month, doctorstook to the streets after Peter Magombeyi, their union leader and one of theorganizers of an effort to demand higher wages for state doctors, went missing.
Ncube said at thetime that Magombeyi's case was being treated as a disappearance, not anabduction, as his colleagues have alleged.
Human rights groupssay they have recorded more than 20 cases of abductions of activists by statesecurity agents since January. The government denies any involvement.
