HARARE – President Mnangagwa has said his cordial engagements with US President Joe Biden left him stunned at the way the US Embassy in Harare conducted itself.
He said this in an interview with journalists at the end of visit in Scotland yesterday.
“I had an opportunity to chat with President Joe Biden and the spirit, which he has towards Zimbabwe is totally different from what we see from the US Embassy in Harare.
“In fact, he called a staffer and said ‘please make sure that I have a chat with the President (referring to President Mnangagwa)’,” he said.
The US Embassy has been criticised by many rational Zimbabweans for behaving like an opposition party that always parrots opposition sentiments.
The embassy’s social media platforms now writes even in the vernacular, criticising Government and extolling the virtues of the opposition MDC-Alliance.
Beyond the engagements with President Biden, President Mnangagwa said he also spoke about three times with PM Boris Johnson.
On another note, the President is hopeful that the engagements with Prime Minister Johnson will help improve relations between Zimbabwe and the UK.
Prior to President Mnangagwa’s visit this week, no Zimbabwean leader had set foot in the UK due to frosty relations that followed the land reform programme, which sought to right colonial land ownership imbalances.
The President said he was happy with the warm reception he got from Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
President Mnangagwa also engaged UK’s Minister of State for Africa, Vicky Ford. Minister Ford is scheduled to visit Zimbabwe on a date that is yet to be ascertained. The visit is likely going to trigger improved relations between Zimbabwe and the UK.
President Mnangagwa said he spoke with Prince Charles, the one who lowered the Union Jack, as a sign of the end of colonisation in Zimbabwe.
President Mnangagwa said he asked Prince Charles why he had not come back to see the development that has taken place since then. He felt it was a warm gesture from me, said the President.
On his engagement with Prince William, President Mnangagwa said the Prince told him to convey a message to Marvellous Nakamba that the Prince was his ardent follower.
Nakamba, a vital cog in the Warriors midfield, plays for Premier League side Aston Villa.
European Council President Charles Michel also had a conversation with President Mnangagwa with the former expressing his keenness to see a resuscitation of normal relations between Zimbabwe and the EU.
The President also had an interesting chat with Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau whom he asked “what wrong have the people of Canada done to Zimbabwe, and vice versa”.
Prime Minister Trudeau promised to send a minister to Zimbabwe to reboot relations between the two countries.
Secretary of State for the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who is the top Catholic diplomat, told President Mnangagwa that the Vatican was unhappy with the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe.
The President then asked him to convey a message to Pope Francis that he should condemn the illegal sanctions.
“I am pleased that the narratives that were misleading (about Zimbabwe) have been corrected. All the leaders that I spoke with were happy to grow relations with Zimbabwe.”
Zimbabwe has embarked on a re-engagement drive that seeks to mend broken relations with all nations of the world guided by the mantra, “Friend to all and enemy to none”.
The visit to Scotland presented Zimbabwe with an opportunity to meet global leaders to tell the correct story, which is contrary to the one sold by the country’s detractors.
