After expelling US officials, Zimbabwe accuses them of promoting ‘regime change’

The government of the southern African country of Zimbabwe last month arrested, interrogated and deported officials and contractors working for the US government, and this week publicly accused them of promoting “regime change” in their country.

The incident is the latest in the Zimbabwean government’s aggressive efforts to thwart both domestic and international challenges to its authority. The incumbent government claimed victory last year in a chaotic election that several independent observer missions said was not fair or credible.

But it also points to a deeper tension over the United States’ stated efforts to promote democracy around the world. Some countries, including Zimbabwe, have accused America of meddling in their affairs and trying to impose its values ​​– and of hypocrisy, given the threats at home to its own democracy.

Zimbabwe’s leaders have drawn closer to both China and Russia in recent years, supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Zimbabwe has a wealth of lithium, a crucial component of electric vehicles. But most Zimbabweans are struggling to make ends meet as they face triple-digit inflation that has rendered their currency virtually worthless. Many employees – both blue-collar and educated professionals – have done so left the country.

In a stern statement issued Friday, Samantha Power, the administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, said Zimbabwean authorities verbally and physically intimidated U.S. government officials and contractors last month. They were held overnight, interrogated at length and transported in unsafe conditions, Ms Power said.

U.S. officials had assessed democracy, human rights and governance concerns as part of a regular review of the aid programs they support in the country, an agency spokeswoman said in an email. They arrived in the country in early February and worked for 10 days before Zimbabwean authorities confronted them, the spokeswoman said.

Zimbabwe’s treatment of the officials was a betrayal of the country’s promise to build a stronger democracy and reengage with the West, Ms Power said.

“The people of Zimbabwe deserve better,” she said.

But the Zimbabwean government fired back. George Charamba, spokesman for President Emmerson Mnangagwa, said this an interview with state media company Sunday Mail that the US contractors had entered the country without receiving proper authorization. He accused them of holding clandestine meetings with opposition politicians, non-profit organizations and diplomats from other foreign countries.

“If America thinks it has a sacred mission to reform the politics of this country in its own image of democracy, they are in for a very rude awakening,” Mr Charamba told the Sunday Mail.

U.S. officials say the government team had proper authorization to be in the country and that Zimbabwean authorities were properly notified of the mission.

The ZANU-PF party has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980. Its leaders, first under Robert Mugabe’s nearly four-decade rule, have long been accused of maintaining power through repression.

In that time, Zimbabwe has clashed frequently with the United States, which has imposed sanctions on senior government officials, including Mr. Mnangagwa.

Since claiming victory in last year’s elections, the government has been accused of expelling several opposition members from parliament, tightening its grip on power.

Just days before US officials released a statement on the harassment of their employees, they announced a change to the sanctions program against Zimbabwean officials and entities. Although the change essentially kept in place the same restrictions on some sanctioned individuals that had existed for about two decades, the announcement sparked a wave of protest among Zimbabweans concerned that Washington was crippling its economy.

A U.S. State Department spokesperson said the sanctions imposed last month were not related to the treatment of the government officials.

This was not the first time that American officials or American citizens working for democracy in Zimbabwe have had run-ins with authorities there.

Two years ago, Larry Garber was sent to Zimbabwe for the Carter Center, based in Atlanta, to set up an election observation mission. About two weeks into his trip, he said, Zimbabwean authorities deported him because he did not have the proper visa. A year later he was no longer allowed to enter the country for the elections.

A few months after Mr. Garber was deported, US congressional staffers visiting Zimbabwe met with human rights activists and civil society organizations had their car surrounded and were chased by people they thought were security officials. They escaped and left the country safely.

The government did not respond to requests for comment.

Gibson Nyikadzino, a columnist who writes about politics and international relations for the Zimbabwean government-owned Herald newspaper, said he believed Zimbabwe and the United States could move past their latest dispute.

Given the global competition for Zimbabwe’s attention and its natural resources, Mr. Nyikadzino said, the United States does not want to alienate itself. It. And Zimbabwe, facing serious economic challenges, is still keen to re-engage with economically powerful Western countries, he said.

“If the US can negotiate with China and other countries where they have different political views, it is also possible for Zimbabwe and the United States to negotiate through that,” he said.