There is still hope that elections in Zimbabwe will be free and fair, Washington's ambassador to the country, Bruce Wharton, told RFI on Friday. A number of countries, including the US, have expressed fears that elections, set for the end of the month, will not be credible.
"I think it's important that we not prejudge this process," Wharton said. "I still believe that it is possible for Zim to have a peaceful, credible election. Clearly, that's what's needed to help move the country forward-economically, socially and politically. We have expressed concerns about elements of the process so far, but I think we need to be careful not to prejudge it."
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe lashed out at the US at a campaign rally in Chinhoyi on Friday after the State Department expressed concern that the elections might not be carried out credibly.
"Keep your pink nose out of our affairs, please," Mugabe reportedly said.
Wharton says that Mugabe's comments were part of his campaign speech and "all part of the political process here".
Mugabe is working the campaign trail, as is his opponent, Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. Elections are slated for 31 July, a date determined by Zimbabwe's Constitutional Court earlier this month after both sides asked for the date to be pushed back.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party has claimed that elections will not be free and fair, no matter what the outcome.
But earlier this week US State Department spokesperson Patrick Ventrell commented that the election outcome could have an impact on the US's sanctions policy and the US has since tended to persuasion rather than threats, offering to "revisit" current sanctions against the country.
The State Department said US Secretary of State John Kerry had sent Mugabe a letter regarding the elections, saying the US expected that civil society would be able to "operate freely" and that the elections would "reflect the will of the people".
"We've made it clear that this is a critical moment," Marie Harf, deputy spokesperson for the State Department said earlier this week.
While more work needs to be done in Zimbabwe in terms of reforms, it is important to look at the strides made this past year, Wharton told RFI.
"We have pointed out the very positive outcome of the constitutional reform and the referendum in March of this year and we've responded by decreasing some of the sanctions. We've been pretty clear that credible, peaceful, transparent elections would allow us to further roll back our sanctions on Zimbabwe," he said
Although US and European Union observers have not been allowed, Wharton says that there will be a number of observers from within the country and throughout the region, including observers from the African Union and the Southern African Development Community (Sadc).
And on 31 July Wharton will be one of those observers. The government of Zimbabwe has authorised five people from each of the foreign embassies in Zimbabwe to be accredited observers.
"I'm very fortunate to be one of those, so I expect to spend the day in the Harare area primarily, visiting voting places and seeing how things are going," he said Friday.
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Bruce Wharton is so naive. Mugabe is a rogue with no respect for law or protocol. In which compartment does "free and fair" fit when Mugabe is already abusing his position as president using military and police to force rural folk to vote for him in fear? America keeps sending dumb idiots as ambassadors to Zimbabwe.
You all lazy university African bastards.Go and fuck the pink ass of a dog.Peter Carlos Hinds.
Kjrs120;
The wise ones say that; "If you fail to beat them, join them". This is exactly what your "dumb and stupid Ambassador" is doing. He has been all over the show trying to influence voting patterns in favour of his stooges but he has seen that it has failed.
He wrote letters - against protocol and procedure - directly to heads of departments (without going via Foreign Affairs) but he has seen that he is losing not only the war and the battle but the plot as well.
He has seen that regime change has failed and so want to be seen as if he is for the people of Zimbabwe. But Zimbabweans are not fooled by imperialists who speak with forked tongues. We know Americans very well; they are wicked, evil, satanic, diabolic and barbaric but we also know that they are unclever and foolish.
Elections are going ahead, as scheduled, on 31 July 2013 and ZANU-PF, without any shred of doubt, is going to win with a wide majority. Only those who join the train now will be able to get seats. No one will be allowed to jump into the train at a secluded place that is not a train station.
I hope Bruce Wharton knows and is alive to this fact and reality. If he acts stupidly, like he was doing these past few days, the train will leave without him and he will only have himself to blame when his bosses in Washington asks him why he did not foresee this outcome!!
Many Americans have come around to strongly support Mugabe because we have been educated to:
(1) how this election is really a referendum on land reform (2) how Fast Track Land Reform really has been a success--despite everything the 1% has done to try and make it fail (U.S. govt sanctions, etc.) (3) that the biggest problem for Zimbabwe is the U.S. imperialist, racist, evil sanctions; we are educating our neighbors that this election will be fair, and if Mugabe wins, than the sanctions must be dropped
The very best to our Zimbabwean sisters and brothers!
Dawn_Elise;
Thank you very much brother for that brilliant comment and the observations you made about what has happened in Zimbabwe. We in Zimbabwe - the loyal, patriotic and revolutionary cadres of this country - are and have always been alive to the fact that not all Americans support what the Obama regime and the Bush regime before it did or are doing.
The problem, as far as the issue of sanctions (ZiDERA) is concerned, has NEVER been between us the two peoples of the two countries but it has been between the people of Zimbabwe and the racist regimes that have imposed cruel, racist, diabolic, devilish, evil, illegal, horrendous, crippling, debilitating, deleterious, disastrous, dehumanising and inhuman economic sanctions against us.
We respect the American people to make sound judgment when it comes to evil policies pursued by their regimes. In the case of Zimbabwe, as far back as 2000 or even before that, we had unwavering support from American individuals and groups like the 12th December Movement, headed by the likes of Cde Chimurenga (a Shona word which means "liberation struggle").
Through thick and thin and against a lot of pressure from the regimes in America, the 12th December Movement has stood by us as you Cde Dawn and others like you and of your mind and make up are doing today.
Please keep it up and continue supporting Zimbabwe and its people - you will not regret it!!!