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| Africa Subsaharan |
| US protests Zimbabwe's detention of diplomats |
| 2008-06-06 |
| The United States on Thursday expressed outrage over what it called Zimbabwe's unjust detention of U.S. diplomats and protested the envoys' treatment at the United Nations. Zimbabwean officials eventually released the diplomats, who were stopped at a roadblock north of Harare, the capital. But the chief U.S. representative in Zimbabwe said police slashed tires and grabbed phones, and that "war veterans" threatened to burn the vehicles with the officials inside. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking to reporters at the State Department, condemned the "outrageous act" and said she hoped the U.N. would not "consider the mistreatment of diplomats to be an internal matter for Zimbabwe." State Department spokesman Sean McCormack warned that "while this immediate incident has been resolved, it will not be forgotten." Despite U.S. anger, Rice indicated that the U.S. ambassador would not be recalled in protest because American diplomats were needed to ensure "some modicum of civility" and fairness in a June 27 presidential runoff election. Opposition and rights groups have accused President Robert Mugabe of orchestrating violence and intimidation in the run-up to the contest. In Rome, senior U.S. and British officials delivered a message of protest to a member of the Zimbabwean delegation on the plenary floor of a U.N. food conference. State Department officials said the Zimbabwean diplomat initially attempted to ignore the U.S. and British envoys' presence. At the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad "called for consultations on the tragic attack in Zimbabwe" with other Security Council members in the council chambers, said Richard Grenell, spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the U.N. The U.S. briefed the council, which asked for more information. "We hope to follow up with the council very soon to obtain a condemnation of what happened," Grenell said. If the council goes along, a formal statement of condemnation on the incident is not expected to be issued until Friday at the earliest. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Get a big stick or shut up. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-06-06 20:58 |
| #1 Selective US State Department "outrage." Very disturbing. In decades past, no similar "outrage" for thousands of Afrikaans farmers slaughtered or run off their land and farms. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-06-06 20:24 |