In this first AllAfrica interview with the assistant secretary Johnnie Carson, we explore some of challenges for United States policies towards Africa. An upcoming conversation will discuss other challenges, other countries – and the progress and potential of Africa in this decade.

On Zimbabwe, it would appear that after Prime Minister Tsvangirai’s visit to Washington, there is a willingness by the administration to provide a certain amount of aid, while keeping sanctions in place. How would you describe the United States’ policy on Zimbabwe at this time?

We are deeply concerned about what is happening in Zimbabwe and what has happened over the last decade. We believe that the visit by Morgan Tsvangirai gave us an opportunity to hear first hand how the global agreement [between President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change led by Tsvangirai] is being implemented and how his relations with Zanu-PF and Mugabe are taking shape. It also gave the administration a chance to share its views with the prime minister and to reaffirm number of things:

The United States supports the forces of democracy in Zimbabwe, and the U.S. supports the people of Zimbabwe. The U.S. supports what the MDC has been trying to do to bring a return to democracy, and we support Morgan Tsvangirai and encourage him to continue to do his work. Equally, we encourage Zanu-PF to play their part. They have an important part to play.

We reaffirmed to Prime Minister Tsvangirai that we would continue to provide assistance in the area of health care. We have done a lot in providing support on HIV/Aids, cholera and child survival. We also affirmed we would be providing assistance in promoting democracy. Both the President and the Secretary of State said they would support additional resources for education – providing learning materials, and for agriculture – providing seeds, fertilizer, and instruments in rural areas.

Without lifting sanctions?

There is no talk about lifting sanctions right now, until we see progress – irreversible progress – in the implementation of the global political agreement. President Mugabe can and should do a number of things to bolster full democracy and show that he is absolutely, unequivocally committed to implementing the agreement.
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He can allow the foreign media to come back in. He can lift censorship and restrictions on the local media. He can end political harassment of civil society leaders. He can end political harassment of MDC officials.

He can swear in all of the MDC ministers, including deputy minister of agriculture Roy Bennett. He can end the emergency security laws that have been put in place.

He can reaffirm publicly that he will allow the next elections, due in approximately 18 months, to be monitored by international groups, including the Commonwealth, EU [European Union], and organizations like the Carter Center, IFES [International Foundation for Electoral Systems] and IRI [International Republican Institute]. These are easy to do, and I’ve just mentioned a few. President Mugabe has them in his power to do them.