Zimbabwe chastises United States envoy

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By Lebo Nkatazo

THE Zimbabwean government on Wednesday issued a final warning to US ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell saying “stern” measures would be taken against the envoy if he continues to meddle in the country’s internal affairs.

Stung by Dell’s criticism that Zimbabwe’s problems emanated from the corrupt rule of the Zanu PF government, Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi cautioned and issued Dell with a diplomatic protest over his attack on the government economic policies among other criticisms.

Last night sources said Dell would be flying to Washington this week for consultations.

Earlier, the US State Department said it stood by Ambassador Dell's blunt criticism of the Mugabe government, suggesting that authorities in Harare were trying to make the American envoy a scapegoat for their own economic failures.

State Department Deputy Spokesman Adam Ereli said the dispute is not about comments by the American ambassador but rather the failed economic policies of the Mugabe government, which, he said, have produced soaring inflation and unemployment and caused Zimbabwe's annual economic output to shrink by 40 percent in the last five years.

"What Ambassador Dell is pointing to is the ruinous effects of these polices on the people of Zimbabwe and the standing of Zimbabwe," he said. "And what has happened is that they've gone after him personally, which is wrong and should be condemned, instead of examining what the true problem is, which, as I said, is failed policies and a consistent and unrelenting attack on I think the freedoms and initiatives of the Zimbabwean people."

In Harare, Zimbabwe's Foreign Affairs Minister Mumbengegwi said: “I did bring to the attention of the ambassador that the government of Zimbabwe takes serious exception to this type of behavior from a principal representative accredited to Zimbabwe and I reiterated and did reiterate that the government will take stern measures against diplomats who abuse their privileges."

The minister added that he had also told the US ambassador who has served in hotspots such as Kosovo, Mozambique and Angola that his ministry would not hesitate to invoke appropriate provisions of the Vienna Conventions on diplomatic relations if he continued to breach the laws of the country.

“I stated to the ambassador that the ministry (Foreign Affairs) took very, very serious exception to the conduct of the ambassador and (that) it would not hesitate to invoke the appropriate provisions of the Vienna Conventions at any time in the future should the ambassador of the US again act in violation of the laws of the country,” Mumbengegwi added.

Mumbengegwi added that Dell had always been hostile to the Zimbabwean government even before he took up his diplomatic post last year. He said the ambassador’s comments were expected from an opposition political party member instead of a diplomat, let alone of civilised nation such as the US.

According to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), diplomats are exempt from the criminal, civil and administrative jurisdiction of the receiving State although this can be waived by the sending State. The receiving State, however, has the right to declare any member of the diplomatic staff of a mission, persona non grata (or unwanted person) at any time and there is no obligation for the receiving State to explain such a decision. In these situations, the sending State, as a rule, would recall the person or terminate their function with the mission.

The US ambassador courted the ire of government when he criticised its policies at a public lecture delivered at Africa University in Mutare. He told students and staff at the public lecture that, "The Zimbabwe government's own gross mismanagement of the economy and its corrupt rule has brought on the crisis."
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