United States President Donald Trump has signed a new law imposing strict new conditions to be met before sanctions levied on Zimbabwe could be lifted.

The US Law stipulates that the Zimbabwean army should ” respect the fundamental rights and freedoms of all persons and to be nonpartisan in character”.

The law, known as the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Amendment Act, was signed into law Friday and states, for sanctions to be lifted, Zimbabwe’s July presidential polls must be ”widely accepted as free and fair” to all parties who took part in the ballots.

President Mnangagwa who has vowed to open the country for business investment will have an uphill task as the new US law could derail the plans he had for the Southern African nation.

In a first post-Mugabe poll since the veteran ruler was ousted last November, Zimbabweans went to the polls to elect a new leader. The main opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change-Alliance is legally challenging the results announced last Thursday by Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).

A short stint of post-election violence resulted in the deaths of 6 people when the military stormed the streets of Harare, attacking opposition protesters while the official results were still to be announced.

Neba Benson,

BaretaNews Foreign Correspondent/Analyst