{UAH} Zimbabwe's Australian ambassador requests asylum

Zimbabwe's Australian ambassador requests asylum

Jacqueline Zwambila, whose term ends in days, says threats mean it is not safe for her to return homeEmail

• Conal Urquhart
• theguardian.com, Saturday 28 December 2013

Zwambila was appointed by former Zimbabwean prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai. Photograph: Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images

Zimbabwe's ambassador to Australia has requested asylum there, claiming that it is not safe for her to go home.

Jacqueline Zwambila, whose term ends on Tuesday, said she had been smeared and threatened by supporters of Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe.

Zwambila was appointed by the Zimbabwe unity government, which included ministers from the Movement for Democratic Change, of which she was a member. "Once the elections of 31 July were stolen by the current government – which is illegitimate – I knew that this was the end of the line. End of the line for the people of Zimbabwe … and for people like me, who were appointed by the ex-prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai," she told Fairfax Media.

"Back home the ministers are no longer there. It is not possible for me to return after all the things that have happened – the smear campaigns and threats. There is no way I will feel safe to go back."

She said she was appointed by the unity government to repair relations between Australia and Zimbabwe, which had been poor for more than a decade. "When I started, there was no aid from Australia to Zimbabwe. Now 25% of Australia's African aid goes to Zimbabwe," she said.

In the July elections, Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party won the presidential and parliamentary elections, which meant they did not need to govern in a coalition with the MDC.

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Gwokto La'Kitgum

"Even a small dog can piss on a tall Building", Jim Hightower