US wants Zimbabwe to double down on reforms

The United States is urging the Zimbabwe government to double down on reforms aimed at returning the country to the prosperity it once enjoyed.

Speaking to reporters in Harare on Monday, Pamela Tremont, the U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe, said her country wants to have cordial relations with the southern African nation.

She urged the government to pursue political and financial reforms that she said would deliver Zimbabwe's people the prosperity and dignity they deserve.

"We're here today as part of our commitment to the Zimbabwe people that is long-standing and consistent, and we're here to advocate for the reforms that the international community has been asking for for many years," Tremont said.

"We're quite clear  -  we need public officials to quit using their public offices for private gain. We need the judiciary to be able to deliver justice independently of political considerations."

The United States also wants "the rights to assembly and free speech to be fully respected," in Zimbabwe, she said.

Tremont spoke as talks on restructuring Zimbabwe's $21 billion debt began.

Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank Group, called for negotiations on the debt to speed up.

"Even wars never last this long," Adesina said. "It is clearly time to bring this to a close  -  end the decades of untold damage to the economy of Zimbabwe, the suffering of its people, and have a new beginning with collective hope, aspiration and shared prosperity for its people, today and well into the future. It is time to make Zimbabwe beautiful again. No one, no matter how strong, can run up a hill carrying on their back piles of sand. The $21 billion debt of Zimbabwe, of which the bulk is actually arrears, has made arrears the new debt stacked like piles of sandbags on the back of Zimbabwe.

"We all agree we must play our part to correct this anomaly and give a new lease of life to this nation and its people so Zimbabwe can run again."

Adesina was asking institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to finance new loans for Zimbabwe and forgive or reduce old debts.

At the same meeting, President Emmerson Mnangagwa appealed for debt to be restructured so Zimbabwe can access credit lines.

"The successful implementation of our arrears clearance and debt resolution strategy is key for Zimbabwe to unlock new concessional external financing critical for achieving our economic development objectives," the president said. "I call for the continued support of the international financial institutions, development partners, our creditors and the international community for the arrears clearance and debt resolution process. Access to external financing will be key for long-term funding [of] our projects and programs. I am looking forward to achieving the set objective of this structured dialogue."

Zimbabwe's national debt has climbed steadily since the early 2000s, when land confiscations by the government led to sharply reduced food production and sent the economy into a tailspin.

Some government officials maintain that Zimbabwe cannot access credit lines because of the targeted sanctions imposed on some leaders for alleged election rigging and human rights abuses in the early 2000s.