News In Brief

US sees no link in UN votes by Zimbabwe to cut in aid

State Department officials maintained Tuesday that recent votes by Zimbabwe at the UN had nothing to do with a cut in US aid to the African nation to $40 million in the current fiscal year, about half the figure originally envisaged.

Zimbabwe recently cosponsored a UN resolution criticizing US intervention in Grenada and abstained on a US-sponsored resolution criticizing the Soviet Union for shooting down a South Korean jetliner. The State Department said the cuts were necessary after Congress appropriated less aid than had been requested.