HARARE – A potential war of words looms between the Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, His Excellency President Robert Mugabe and the United States government following a visit to Zimbabwe by a five-member delegation from the US House of Representatives.

(The paragraph above is a once-off illustration to familiarize readers in the Diaspora with how President Mugabe is now addressed in the government-owned media in Zimbabwe.)

US President Barack Obama this week dispatched the delegation, led by Gregory Meeks, a Democrat from New York and senior member of the House Financial Services Committee.

The visit follows a visit to Washington by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in June this year.

Tsvangirai, who was four months into his term as Premier, had set out on a three-week tour of the United States and Europe in a bid to normalise relations between Zimbabwe and Western governments.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader has since met with the visiting US delegation which will now meet President Mugabe this Wednesday before returning to Washington the same day.

Although details of Tsvangirai’s meeting with the US delegation were not revealed to the press, he is certain to have told the visitors he was not happy with President Mugabe’s failure to commit himself to the full implementation of the Global Political Agreement he signed with Tsvangirai on September 15 last year.

Wednesday’s talks with the Zimbabwean leader could turn out to be unfriendly if the US representatives continue with their government’s open criticism of Mugabe.

The Zimbabwean leader is being accused of deliberately blocking crucial reforms in the media and other institutions key to the restoration of democracy in Zimbabwe.

Mugabe, who had a stormy relationship with former US ambassador James McGee, has also accused the US government of interfering in the internal affairs of his country.

McGee left Harare in July this year at the end of his mission.

His successor, Ambassador-Designate Charles Ray is expected in Zimbabwe some time next month.

Mugabe (85) further accuses the US and its powerful allies of manipulating the UN and other multilateral institutions to fight wars with its enemies.

Some US officials have, since the diplomatic fallout between Washington and Harare nearly eight years ago, been targeted for some of the most vitriolic remarks by the Zimbabwean leader.

An incensed Mugabe in July this year lashed out at US assistant secretary of state for African affairs Johnnie Carson calling him “an idiot”.

Mugabe, who met the US diplomat on the sidelines of an African Union meeting in Libya, had apparently been angered by Carson’s “condescending attitude” towards him.

From Mugabe’s comments, Carson had been frank with the Zimbabwean leader who is being accused of frustrating efforts to restore the enjoyment of basic freedoms among his people.

Carson was “a little fellow” who “thinks he could dictate to us what to do and what not to do,” Mugabe was quoted as saying.

“I hope he wasn’t speaking for (President Barack) Obama,” Mugabe went on.

“You wouldn’t speak to an idiot (referring to Carson) of that nature. I was very angry with him,” he added.

He said he had told Carson that he was “a great shame, being an African-American”.

A week before, Mugabe had said Irene Khan, the Amnesty International secretary-general, was “bewitched”.

Khan who visited Zimbabwe, had produced a damning report on the Zimbabwean government’s continued abuse of human rights.

Mugabe also called Jendayi Frazer, Carson’s predecessor during the George Bush’s administration, “that little American girl trotting around the globe like a prostitute”.

Meanwhile, Meek says his visit to Zimbabwe was motivated by new political developments in Zimbabwe following the signing of the unity agreement by the three parties in government.

“We are here because there is hope,” Meek told journalists soon after meeting Tsvangirai on Tuesday.

“The Prime Minister has told us that there are so many good things in as far as the unity agreement is concerned and that the differences they may have can be worked out.

“We are looking forward to those things happening with government itself involved to resolve them and with the help of SADC and the AU just as the Global Political Agreement has stated.

“We are here to try to make sure that there is a new chapter. We have a new President in the United States by the name of Barack Obama. He said change is on the way and is looking out to work with different people.

“He met with Prime Minister Tsvangirai. They talked about looking for a better day and I think that is what we are here to make sure that there is an opportunity for a better day.”

Meek is being accompanied by Jack Kingston a Republican from Georgia; Sheila-Jackson Lee, (Democrat, Texas); Melvin Watt, (Democratic, North Carolina)  and Marcia Fudge, a Democrat from Ohio.

US Embassy Public Affairs Officer Timothy Gerhardson, said Meek’s delegation was the second high level delegation since the diplomatic stand-off between the two countries eight years ago.

His delegation follows that of US congressman, Donald Payne, in July this year.

Payne is the chairman of the US Congress’ House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Sub-Committee on Africa and Global Health.

Payne is said to have been involved in the crafting of the controversial Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA) in 2001-2002.

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