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(ZIMBABWE GUARDIAN) Ambassador goes against Govt position on sanctions

Ambassador goes against Govt position on sanctions
By: Reason Wafawarova
Posted: Friday, April 23, 2010 4:00 am

ZIMBABWE’S Ambassador to Australia, Ms Jacqueline Zwambila, has called for the partial lifting of illegal Western economic sanctions on Zimbabwe, going against Government’s position that the embargo should be lifted in its entirety.

Ms Zwambila said sanctions on entities administered by the Finance Ministry, which is headed by a minister drawn from her party MDC-T, should be lifted.

She was speaking to diplomats and representatives from at least 20 countries at belated celebrations for Zimbabwe’s 30th independence anniversary in Australia on Tuesday.

Ms Zwambila’s utterances have raised the ire of other diplomats and observers who said her allegiance to Zimbabwe was "questionable" if she could go against the position of the Head of State and Government she represents, President Mugabe.

Ambassador Zwambila said the West should "consider lifting restrictive measures on certain companies like the Zimbabwe Agricultural Bank (Agribank) administered by the Ministry of Finance".


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An African diplomat, who attended the celebrations, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Ms Zwambila’s call for partial lifting of sanctions was "not in line with the position of Sadc and that of the facilitator of the GPA".

Another observer, Zanu-PF Central Committee member Professor Jonathan Moyo, said Ms Zwambila’s statement was "consistent with the MDC-T policy of wanting to create a government within a government".

"Ambassadors do not represent organisations, but the State and its people. It is uncalled for if an ambassador starts representing their own party interests and not those of the country."

Prof Moyo said Ms Zwambila received her credentials from President Mugabe and was thus supposed to reflect the policy position of the Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.

"If the ambassadors from MDC-T have started doing this, then we as a party have to make sure that we don’t give them one more ambassadorial posts because our reputation will be compromised," Prof Moyo said.

Labels: AMBASSADOR, JACQUELINE ZWAMBILA, MDC

posted by MrK @ 5:11 PM