President Donald Trump's administration has demanded that
President Emmerson Mnangagwa punishes security forces who stand accused of
killing civilians during last year's post-election demonstrations, as well as
this year's riots.
The Zimbabwe government must stop using the army to harass
citizens and try soldiers involved in deadly shootings since elections last
July before it can convince the United States government to lift sanctions, a
senior US State Department diplomat said.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government should also move
to repeal repressive media and security legislation, said Matthew Harrington,
the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa.
"Any goodwill from the international community that
might have been generated by an improved election process dissipated as a
result of several problematic developments," Harrington told the Centre
for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington.
He cited the use of deadly force by the army on August 1
last year in response to post-election protests in Harare which left six people
dead and 35 others nursing gunshot wounds.
"In addition, in January and February (2019) the army
launched a sustained crackdown on citizens in response to their protests over
fuel price increases. We welcome a better relationship with Zimbabwe, but the
ball is very much in the Zimbabwean government's court. If there's real,
concrete progress in the areas laid out in the ZIDERA legislation Zimbabwe will
find a committed partner in the United States," Harrington added.
The United States passed the Zimbabwe Democracy and
Economic Recovery Act in 2001, imposing travel restrictions and asset freezes
on over 200 individuals and entities accused of abetting human rights
violations. The Zimbabwe government and its supporters claim the unilateral
sanctions are "illegal", and that they have spooked potential
investors.
Mnangagwa's economic
adviser Ashok Chakravarti, who spoke after Harrington at the CSIS event to
discuss "Zimbabwe's burgeoning food crisis" on May 1, said the US
sanctions had created a perception problem for Zimbabwe.
"ZIDERA does make a difference to trade and commercial
flows, not legally. International markets don't necessarily work purely on the
laws in place. Perception is terribly important," Chakravarti argued.
"Some years ago, we had 40 correspondent banks which
dealt with Zimbabwe. It's a fact that there are only about half a dozen banks
that are willing to do business with Zimbabwe now because of the perceived
risks. It has nothing to do with whether there's a specific law in place."
He claimed he once had a US$3,000 transfer to his daughter
studying in the United States blocked temporarily simply because the money had
originated from Zimbabwe.
But Harrington maintained that the steps that Zimbabwe
needs to take to have the sanctions lifted do not require foreign assistance,
just commitment by Zimbabwe's leaders to change their human rights record.
The second highest ranking US diplomat in Africa added:
"The government are saying some of the right things but it is falling
short when it comes to concrete actions. There are some steps the government
could take to demonstrate it is serious about improving rule of law and respect
for human rights in Zimbabwe.
"It could repeal POSA (Public Order and Security Act)
and AIPPA (Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act), two laws long
emblematic of a repressive regime. It could stop using the army to harass and
intimidate citizens who exercise their fundamental right to free speech, and it
could hold accountable those members of the security services who have abused
their fellow citizens.
"Those simple actions would send a strong signal to
Zimbabweans and the international community that Zimbabwe is on a very
different path and genuinely committed to embracing democratic institutions and
values, and to becoming a more responsible member of the international
community. And not one of those steps, I would point out, requires outside
assistance. The government could take any one of them today. The fact that it
has chosen not to do so raises questions about the genuineness of its
commitment to put the country on a much different trajectory." zimlive
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