US rejects claims it sought Zimbabwe’s minerals in $367m health-aid talks 

HARARE – The United States has flatly denied that it was seeking access to Zimbabwe’s mineral wealth, insisting that a proposed health-aid agreement abandoned on President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s instructions contained no provisions related to the country’s critical minerals.

A US official familiar with the negotiations said Zimbabwe walked away from weeks of intensive technical talks without offering any explanation, having never raised political or policy concerns throughout the entire process.

“No policy or political concerns were relayed to us,” the official said, speaking off the record. “The government then notified us it was ceasing negotiations without stating why.”

The official was emphatic that the memorandum of understanding under discussion was strictly limited to public-health cooperation.

“The MOU focused solely on health cooperation and did not contain any provisions related to critical minerals, neither explicitly nor implicitly,” the official said. “This MoU is, and has always been, about the health of the Zimbabwean people.”

Washington said the agreement would have preserved long-standing global health-data standards, including the sharing of anonymous, aggregated epidemiological data used since the launch of PEPFAR in 2006 to track disease trends and direct treatment resources.

The collapse of the deal was confirmed by the US Embassy in Harare last week. Ambassador Pamela Tremont warned that the breakdown would rob Zimbabwean communities of significant benefits, particularly the 1.2 million people currently receiving HIV treatment through US-supported programmes.

“We now face the difficult and regrettable task of winding down our health assistance in Zimbabwe,” she said.

The draft MoU carried $367 million in funding over five years.

The termination order traces back to a letter dated December 23, signed by Zimbabwe’s Secretary for Foreign Affairs, indicating that Mnangagwa had personally ordered talks halted.

“Zimbabwe must discontinue any negotiation with the USA on the clearly lopsided MoU that blatantly compromises and undermines the sovereignty and independence of Zimbabwe,” the letter said.

The breakdown comes against the backdrop of Washington’s push for a new wave of bilateral health agreements under its America First framework, introduced following the sweeping downsizing of USAID under the Trump administration.

At least 20 African countries including Kenya, the DRC and Uganda have signed the agreements with the United States.