The four United States nationals contracted by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) who were recently detained and deported by the Zimbabwean government had reportedly sneaked into the country without notifying authorities as per protocol.
Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet (Presidential Communications) George Charamba said that the four Americans held unsanctioned and covert meetings, which were to inform Washington’s adversarial foreign policy towards Zimbabwe.
The Sunday News reported sources as saying the four – Brenda Lee Pearson, Norma Kriger, Sarah Logan and Loretta Bass – work for a US government affiliate, Navanti Group.
The team said its mission was to carry out a “democracy and governance assessment” to help USAID design its local programmes.
The team was, however, deported on 17 February for allegedly seeking “a more effective method to effect regime change in the country”.
As reported by The Sunday News, after discovering that their team was being shadowed, the US Embassy, on behalf of Navanti Group, reportedly notified the Government on February 5 requesting meetings between Pearson and Kriger and Government ministers, institutions and the Chapter 12 Commissions.
The commissions include the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission; the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission; the Zimbabwe Gender Commission; the Zimbabwe Media Commission; and the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission.
The team allegedly nicodemously held meetings with leaders of anti-government civic society organisations, journalists, some senior opposition figures and Western diplomats. Said Charamba:
They were what we call consular infractions. Basically, that term refers to the entry of foreign nationals into a country without due process as defined by that country.
As it turned out, the team arrived before any notification of Foreign Affairs of the Government of Zimbabwe.
Upon realising that their team was being shadowed, the American Embassy sought, retrospectively, to fulfil this consular requirement and then raised a note verbale, or a diplomatic note, only on the 5th of February, 2024.
Even then, that particular diplomatic note only disclosed two persons of foreign origin, namely Brenda Lee Pearson and Norma Kriger.
Unknown to them, the Government of Zimbabwe knew that persons who had entered surreptitiously into the territory of Zimbabwe were four, not two as declared.
Incidentally, the other undeclared two had been very active on the ground, meeting interest groups, meeting leading opposition members, and NGOs and travelling around the country with the express purpose of gathering information, and information of a political nature.
Charamba said the failure of US authorities to abide by laid down diplomatic protocol meant that the Navanti team would be deported in terms of Zimbabwean laws. He said:
Just the fact of one not timeously indicating the presence on the territory of a sovereign country called Zimbabwe of foreigners is enough offence to get those persons deported, let alone understating the number of persons who have unlawfully entered the State of Zimbabwe, and on that score, there is no politeness to be expected.
The State will invoke its rough hands to enforce the laws of the land but to also get that foreign country to respect the sovereignty of that country.
Let me make it very categorically clear that while this is a specific incident, the American government and its agencies are best advised that Zimbabwe is determined, capable and prepared to deport as many unlawful missions from any country, including mighty America, for as long as those countries are prepared to raise such unlawful missions which violate the integrity of Zimbabwe.
That message must go out very, very clearly to all countries, including the Americans. The size of the country, the military might of that country, the economic might of that country, the diplomatic might of that country is absolutely inconsequential when it comes to the sovereignty of this country and the need to preserve it.
On Friday, 08 March, U.S. Department of State spokesperson Matthew Miller said those detained and deported were USAID officials and contractors, who were conducting an assessment of the development and governance context in the southern country.
Miller warned Zimbabwe that the detention and deportation of the U.S. citizens were “unjustified and unacceptable” and said the incident undermines Harare’s international re-engagement efforts.
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