AU ambassador hires Florida lobbyists in bid to get Trump to lift Zim sanctions

0Shares

The African Union’s (AU) mission to the US has engaged the services of a Florida-based lobby group to urge the Trump administration to lift targeted sanctions on senior Zimbabwean officials, including that of the country’s, President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

A Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filing from December last year shows that the AU mission engaged lobby group Ford and London Global Strategies, in a bid to lift ‘targeted sanctions on Zimbabwe’ and foster a ‘renewed partnership between the US and Zimbabwe’.

Zimbabwe and the AU have long called for all sanctions to be lifted. The FARA filing shows that the AU’s mission is optimistic that the Trump administration might be more receptive to this request than the Biden White House.

AU ambassador to the US, Hilda Suka-Mafudze, wrote in an email to the lobby group last year that lifting sanctions on Zimbabwean individuals and entities would benefit the US by ‘securing vital resources, creating economic opportunities for US businesses, and reasserting American leadership in southern Africa’.

She pitched the idea that bilateral trade and investment agreements could ‘prioritise US businesses under the “America First” strategy, ensuring US firms have preferential access to Zimbabwe’s markets and resources.’ Suka-Mafudze’s email sets out the key messages she wants the lobby group to take to its meeting with team Trump. One of her proposals includes the line: ‘Countering Chinese Influence’.

Suka-Mafudze writes that the US could benefit from Zimbabwe’s ‘strategic location in Southern Africa’, its critical minerals, and its workforce while reducing the region’s dependence on Chinese investments. ‘Aligning with Zimbabwe could counterbalance China’s growing influence in the region and open avenues for US investments in agriculture, mining, and infrastructure,’ she adds.

China is one of Zimbabwe’s largest trading partners. According to the Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe, bilateral trade between China and Zimbabwe was upwards of $3.8bn, in 2024.

The US first sanctioned Zimbabwe in 2001 under the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act. This suite of sanctions was based on allegations of political repression, election rigging, land seizures, and corruption under former President Robert Mugabe.

Former US President Joe Biden ended this sanctions programme in March last year, unblocking all individuals, entities, and property previously affected.

However, the US then proceeded to impose new targeted sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Programme on 11 individuals and three entities.

Those sanctioned included Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, first lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, and first Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga.

The US has hit back against claims that the sanctions are responsible for Zimbabwe’s economic woes, saying they target only a ‘handful of Zimbabweans’.