BY MOSES MATENGA ZIMBABWE has sensationally claimed that the African Union Commission was influenced by the United Kingdom to issue a statement denouncing Harare for the deteriorating human rights situation in the country. In a strongly worded letter to the AU Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat, Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo said contrary to statements from across the globe condemning acts of human rights violations in Zimbabwe, the country was at peace and would not accept any intervention that seeks to undermine her sovereignty. Several global and regional organisations including the United Nations, the human rights groupings, The Elders, Sadc countries among others have spoken with one voice expressing concern over the situation in the country that has seen several activists, citizens, journalists, lawyers, doctors and nurses being harassed, tortured, arrested or assaulted. South Africa’s International Relations minister Naledi Pandor also weighed in, saying there was a need to address the crisis in Zimbabwe to allow locals to go back to their country happily. The Emmerson Mnangagwa administration, stung by global condemnation over its treatment of citizens and opposition actors, has engaged in some firefighting, accusing the United States, the United Kingdom, other Western countries, diplomats, civil society and the opposition of working against Zanu PF. “I write to express my surprise and concern over the statement issued in your name on August 7, 2020, concerning the situation in Zimbabwe which appears to lend credence to the raft of erroneous and highly misleading reports circulating on a variety of social media platforms, deliberately placed so as to cause embarrassment to my country and its leadership,” Moyo wrote to Mahamat in a letter dated August 12. The letter was in response to the AU Commission’s communication condemning human rights abuses in Zimbabwe. “Let me stress, at the outset, that there is no crisis in Zimbabwe, neither are there any human rights violations as purported in your statement. The innuendos and insinuations contained therein could have been avoided had the AUC done some due diligence,” Moyo wrote. Moyo, known for announcing the coup d’état that led to the ouster of the late former President Robert Mugabe in November 2017, accused the AUC of siding with the United Kingdom to discredit Mnangagwa. “We cannot help but note that your statement was issued shortly after a visit to the AU headquarters by the British Minister of Africa and reflects a disturbing alignment with the United Kingdom’s well-known perspective on Zimbabwe and London’s abiding antipathy towards Zanu PF,” he said. Moyo warned that those attacking Zimbabwe based on “lies” had crossed a line “both dangerous and unacceptable”. He said Zimbabwe has been subjected to “an unprecedented wave of highly inflammatory commentary”, insults and threats directed towards the government and Mnangagwa. Moyo said the attacks emanated mainly from the South African Economic Freedom Fighters’ leader Julius Malema, whom he