HARARE: Zimbabwe has pulled out of negotiations with the United States on a new health deal intended to replace the aid program disbanded by President Donald Trump, the US embassy in Harare has said.
The US has been striking new health?aid agreements across Africa after Trump tore down the long?standing USAID agency and curtailed the role of NGOs.
But critics say the deals give Washington broad access to health data and risk shifting control of disease?response systems away from national authorities.
The embassy confirmed in a statement on Tuesday that Zimbabwe had ended the talks.
“We believe this collaboration would have delivered extraordinary benefits for Zimbabwean communities especially the 1.2 million men, women and children currently receiving HIV treatment through US-supported programs,” ambassador Pamela Tremont was quoted as saying.
“We will now turn to the difficult and regrettable task of winding down our health assistance in Zimbabwe.”
The deal would have provided $367 million in funding over five years, according to the statement.
AFP also obtained a letter late Tuesday from the secretary for foreign affairs, dated December 23, stating that Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa had directed officials to halt the negotiations because the terms threatened the country’s autonomy.
“Zimbabwe must discontinue any negotiation, with the USA, on the clearly lop-sided MoU that blatantly compromises and undermines the sovereignty and independence of Zimbabwe,” said the letter, which had not previously been made public.
The US last year began pursuing one?on?one health agreements under its “America First” strategy, aiming to counter China’s influence on the continent — where Beijing’s spending has long centered on large infrastructure projects financed through loans.
The first pact was signed with Kenya in December but has since been challenged in court by a Kenyan senator alleging constitutional breaches.
More than a dozen countries have signed on including Rwanda, Uganda, Lesotho and Eswatini.
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Zimbabwe pulls out of US health aid talks
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Zimbabwe pulls out of US health aid talks
FBI fires more agents who worked on Trump classified document investigation
WASHINGTON: The FBI has fired additional agents who worked on an investigation into President Donald Trump, this time terminating employees who participated in the probe into the Republican’s hoarding of classified documents, people familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
The firings are part of a broader personnel purge under the leadership of Director Kash Patel, a Trump appointee who, over the last year, has pushed out dozens of employees who either contributed to investigations of the president or who were perceived as not in alignment with the administration’s agenda. The Justice Department has engaged in similarly sweeping firings of prosecutors since Trump took office last year.
The FBI Agents Association condemned the firings as unlawful and endangering national security.
“These actions weaken the Bureau by stripping away critical expertise and destabilizing the workforce, undermining trust in leadership and jeopardizing the Bureau’s ability to meet its recruitment goals — ultimately putting the nation at greater risk,” the association said in a statement.
The latest round of terminations included employees who helped investigate Trump’s retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort, a case that involved a high-profile FBI search of the Florida property and resulted in a federal prosecution charging the now-president with holding onto top-secret records from his first term in office and obstructing government efforts to get them back.
The firings were confirmed to The Associated Press by multiple people familiar with the matter who spoke on anonymity because they could not publicly discuss the personnel moves. Several of the people said a total of 10 employees were fired, and one said at least 10 were fired.
The FBI has also fired agents who participated in a separate investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. That investigation also led to criminal charges, but like the Mar-a-Lago case, was abandoned by special counsel Jack Smith after Trump won the White House in November 2024 because of longstanding Justice Department legal opinions that say sitting presidents cannot be indicted.
The firings were revealed on the same day that Patel was quoted as telling Reuters the FBI during the Biden administration had subpoenaed his phone records and those of current White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. Patel said the action had occurred in 2022 and 2023 when they were private citizens.
Patel was subpoenaed by federal prosecutors in 2022 to testify before a grand jury in Washington in the Mar-a-Lago investigation, and appeared after being given immunity, the AP has previously reported.
The firings are part of a broader personnel purge under the leadership of Director Kash Patel, a Trump appointee who, over the last year, has pushed out dozens of employees who either contributed to investigations of the president or who were perceived as not in alignment with the administration’s agenda. The Justice Department has engaged in similarly sweeping firings of prosecutors since Trump took office last year.
The FBI Agents Association condemned the firings as unlawful and endangering national security.
“These actions weaken the Bureau by stripping away critical expertise and destabilizing the workforce, undermining trust in leadership and jeopardizing the Bureau’s ability to meet its recruitment goals — ultimately putting the nation at greater risk,” the association said in a statement.
The latest round of terminations included employees who helped investigate Trump’s retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort, a case that involved a high-profile FBI search of the Florida property and resulted in a federal prosecution charging the now-president with holding onto top-secret records from his first term in office and obstructing government efforts to get them back.
The firings were confirmed to The Associated Press by multiple people familiar with the matter who spoke on anonymity because they could not publicly discuss the personnel moves. Several of the people said a total of 10 employees were fired, and one said at least 10 were fired.
The FBI has also fired agents who participated in a separate investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. That investigation also led to criminal charges, but like the Mar-a-Lago case, was abandoned by special counsel Jack Smith after Trump won the White House in November 2024 because of longstanding Justice Department legal opinions that say sitting presidents cannot be indicted.
The firings were revealed on the same day that Patel was quoted as telling Reuters the FBI during the Biden administration had subpoenaed his phone records and those of current White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. Patel said the action had occurred in 2022 and 2023 when they were private citizens.
Patel was subpoenaed by federal prosecutors in 2022 to testify before a grand jury in Washington in the Mar-a-Lago investigation, and appeared after being given immunity, the AP has previously reported.
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