User:Coolguy22468/United Kingdom-Zimbabwe relations

United Kingdom-Zimbabwe relations are the bilateral relations between the Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom. Zimbabwe maintains an embassy in London and the United Kingdom maintains an embassy in Harare.

Zimbabwe was a self-governing British Crown colony named Southern Rhodesia until 1980 after the Rhodesian Bush War. After independence Zimbabwe became a Commonwealth Republic. Zimbabwe was suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations on 19 March 2002 and withdrew voluntarily on 7 December 2003.

Historically, relations between Zimbabwe and the UK were close. However, in the last eight years, relations between Zimbabwe and the UK have been typically cold, with Robert Mugabe frequently accusing the former colonial power of sabotage; ruining the country and attempting to invade the country. In turn, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown refused to attend an African/European summit while Mugabe was invited, citing Zimbabwe's poor human rights record.

The UK also did not attend an address by President Mugabe at the 2008 UN Food Summit, stating that his presence there was "obscene". However, Mugabe was later ousted from power in 2017 and soon afterwards, Britain's Minister to Africa Rory Stewart became the first British Minister to visit Zimbabwe in two decades.