Zimbabwe ruling party threatens to expel US envoy

Zimbabwe has threatened to expel the US ambassador and accused the United States of funding disturbances, coordinating violence and training insurgency in the country.

During an address to the press in Harare, the country's capital, on Monday, Patrick Chinamasa, the spokesman for the ruling ZANU-PF party, accused Brian Nichols, the US ambassador to Zimbabwe, of fueling instability in the country

"Diplomats should not behave like thugs and Brian Nichols is behaving like a thug. Our leadership will not hesitate to give him marching orders," Chinamasa said.

The US embassy denies accusations of meddling in local politics in the southern African country, but has not responded directly to Chinamasa's statement.

On June 1, the Zimbabwe government summoned Nichols to discuss claims made by a senior US official that Zimbabwe was one of several countries involved’ in violent protests in the United States following the killing of African American George Floyd at the hands of the police.

According to Sibusiso Moyo, Zimbabwe's foreign affairs and international trade minister, Nichols was summoned to be reminded that Zimbabwe respects Article 2 (4) of the United Nations charter, which requires all member states to respect the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.

The latest threats against the US ambassador come after Moyo accused Western countries of sponsoring Hopewell Chin'ono, a prominent journalist accused by the government of inciting violence and criminal abuse of social media platforms.