Promising that Zimbabwe would hold free and fair presidential elections in March 2002, Muzenda said in a letter to Bush that the Zimbabwean government would rally solidly behind Bush’s condemnation of all those who sponsored and gave comfort to terrorism.
Muzenda was the acting president at the time because President Robert Mugabe had left to see an eye specialist in Madrid, Spain.
The Bush administration blamed the violence in the run up to the elections on Zanu (PF).
Commenting on Muzenda’s letter to Bush, the US ambassador to Zimbabwe at that time, Joseph Sullivan, said the letter showed that Zimbabwe was still seeking improved relations with the United States but the arguments were neither new nor convincing.
Besides, he said, in the convoluted logic of Zimbabwe, the government appeared to have waited until Mugabe left for Madrid for medical treatment by an eye specialist before sending the letter to avoid the appearance of Mugabe asking for favours and the possibility of a rebuff.
Post published in: News