Posted on March 19th, 2007 at 10:47 am by aaron
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe’s foreign minister told Western diplomats Monday they would be expelled if they gave financial or diplomatic support to government opponents.
Pressuring diplomats would make it even harder for the international community to keep tabs on a government accused of repressing its people and ruining its economy. The Zimbabwean government prevented opponents from leaving the country over the weekend and has long severely restricted the press.
A diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. Ambassador Christopher Dell, an outspoken critic of Zimbabwe’s human rights record, walked out of a meeting at which the warning to diplomats was delivered after Foreign Minister Simearashe Mbengegwi said he would not respond to any questions.
The foreign minister, acting on instructions from President Robert Mugabe, told the Western diplomats that the Vienna Convention governing diplomatic behavior prohibited foreign embassies from involving themselves in the internal affairs of the host nation.
