Zimbabwe says UN sanctions could lead to 'another Somalia'

United Nations: Zimbabwe has warned that proposed UN sanctions on its leadership could start a civil war and turn the country into ‘another Somalia'.

A letter from Zimbabwe's mission to the UN Security Council said the country posed no threat to its neighbors or any other country, and therefore should be left alone.

It admitted there had been violence in Zimbabwe but accused Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of exaggerating it.

The letter also said any "punitive resolution" would "Somalianize" the country and "most probably start a civil war in the country because, in their obsession with 'regime change,' Britain and the USA are determined to ignore real, entrenched, fundamental and enduring issues that lie at the heart of Zimbabwe's internal politics".

The UN security council is currently unable to agree on the wording of a draft resolution on Zimbabwe.

The proposed text includes an arms embargo on President Robert Mugabe's government and financial and travel restrictions on 14 officials.