Zimbabwe maintains relations with various countries around the world, and maintains close diplomatic relations with neighboring nations.
The Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) is the primary branch of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces responsible for land-oriented military operations. It is the largest service branch under the Zimbabwean Joint Operations Command (JOC). The modern army has its roots in the Rhodesian Army, which was raised between 1963 and 1964 after the breakup of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. A Joint High Command created in March 1980 to oversee integration of the formerly belligerent Rhodesian Security Forces, Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), and the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) officially established the Zimbabwe National Army in late 1980, nearly a year after the end of the Rhodesian Bush War.
Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa is a Zimbabwean politician who is serving as the third president of Zimbabwe since 2017. A member of ZANU–PF and a longtime ally of former President Robert Mugabe, he held a series of cabinet portfolios and he was Mugabe's first-vice president from 2014 until 2017, when he was dismissed before coming to power in a coup d'état. He secured his first full term as president in the disputed 2018 general election. Mnangagwa was re-elected in the August 2023 general election with 52.6% of the vote.
Nelson Chamisa is a Zimbabwean politician and the former President of the Citizens Coalition For Change. He served as Member of the House of Assembly of Zimbabwe for Kuwadzana East, Harare. Chamisa was the MDC Alliance's candidate for president in the 2018 general election, having previously been the leader of the party's youth assembly. He was the Presidential candidate for the Citizens Coalition for Change in the 2023 Zimbabwean Presidential election. He has served as the former chairperson of national youth for the same party as well as the Secretary for Information and Publicity for the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). In 2003, at the age of 25, Chamisa became the youngest Member of Parliament. Chamisa was also the youngest cabinet minister in Government of National Unity of Zimbabwe in 2009.
The Zimbabwean government claimed to have foiled a coup d'état attempt involving almost 400 soldiers and high-ranking members of the military that would have occurred on June 2 or June 15, 2007. The alleged leaders of the coup, all of whom were arrested, were retired army Captain Albert Matapo, Colonel Ben Ncube, Major General Engelbert Rugeje, and Air Vice Marshal Elson Moyo.
China and Zimbabwe have had a close, but chequered, relationship since the latter's independence. China has an embassy in Harare. Zimbabwe has an embassy in Beijing and a consulate-general in Hong Kong.
United States–Zimbabwe relations are bilateral relations between Zimbabwe and the United States. Both countries share a common history and language as former British colonies.
Greece-Zimbabwe relations are the bilateral relations between Greece and Zimbabwe. Greece has an embassy in Harare. Due to the economic situation, Zimbabwe has neither an embassy nor an honorary consulate in Greece.
Russia – Zimbabwe relations date back to the mid-1960s, during the Rhodesian Bush War. The Soviet Union supported Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union, and supplied them with arms; Robert Mugabe's attempts to gain Soviet support for his Zimbabwe African National Union were rebuffed, leading him to enter into relations with Soviet rival Beijing. Throughout the 1980s Zimbabwean relations with the USSR were notoriously cold. Mugabe "stonewalled" the Soviets "for ten months" rather than establish relations with them while he was establishing relations with other countries including the United Kingdom and the United States. The agreement the Soviets were forced to agree to demanded they meet strict criteria about how they could operate in Zimbabwe, while no other country had to agree to similar concessions before establishing relations. The agreement was described as "embarrassing and humiliating for the Soviets since it singles them out." Mugabe shunned Soviet help and allowed British military bases to be established in Zimbabwe against protests from Moscow. Mugabe also accepted the help of British military advisers and declined the same offers from the Soviet Union. Several American-made movies were aired in Zimbabwean movie theaters in the 1980s that the Soviets believed constituted "anti-Soviet propaganda," including the movies Invasion U.S.A., Red Dawn, Firefox, Rocky IV, Rambo: First Blood Part II, Water, The Living Daylights, The Whistle Blower, and Rambo III. The Soviet embassy officially protested, however, they were allegedly told by Mugabe "to complain to your ZIPRA friends." However, since the 2000s Robert Mugabe had strengthened his relations with both Beijing and Moscow as a result of intense western pressure on him. Zimbabwe was one of the few countries that voted with Russia on United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/262 about the annexation of Crimea. Russia maintains strong economic and political ties with Zimbabwe. Russia still maintains an embassy in Harare. Both Russia and China still maintain strong economic and political ties with Zimbabwe and both countries had vetoed the UN resolution imposing UN sanctions on Zimbabwe which was proposed by both the US and the UK on July 12, 2008.
Morgan Richard Tsvangirai was a Zimbabwean politician who was Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 2009 to 2013. He was president of the Movement for Democratic Change, and later the Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC–T), and a key figure in the opposition to former president Robert Mugabe.
Constantino Guveya Dominic Nyikadzino Chiwenga, is a Zimbabwean politician and former army general currently serving, since 2017, as the First Vice-President of Zimbabwe under President Emmerson Mnangagwa. In August 2020, he added the Health Ministry to his portfolio.
Kenya–Zimbabwe relations are bilateral relations between Kenya and Zimbabwe. Both nations are members of the African Union and the United Nations.
India–Zimbabwe relations are bilateral relations between India and Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe Defence Industries (Pty) Ltd (ZDI) is a state-owned Zimbabwean arms manufacturing and procurement company headquartered in Harare, with a primary focus on sporting and military ammunition. In the past it has also manufactured mortar rounds, land mines, and light armoured fighting vehicles such as the Gazelle FRV. During the late 1990s, ZDI was involved in brokering major arms deals between China and other African governments such as the Republic of the Congo. The subsequent economic depression in Zimbabwe, as well as the collapse of the Zimbabwean dollar against major world currencies, have forced ZDI to limit its activity to exporting second-hand equipment from the Zimbabwe Defence Forces.
Serbia and Zimbabwe maintain diplomatic relations established between SFR Yugoslavia and Zimbabwe in 1980, following Zimbabwe's independence. Yugoslavia was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement, of which Zimbabwe is also a part. Neither country has a resident ambassador. Serbia has a non-resident ambassador in Pretoria.
In November 2017, Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe was removed as president and party leader of ZANU–PF and was replaced by Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Sibusiso Busi Moyo was a Zimbabwean politician and army Lieutenant general. He was noted for announcing the ousting of Robert Mugabe on national television during the 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état. He went on to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in the cabinet of Emmerson Mnangagwa from November 2017 until his death.
Relations between the UK and Zimbabwe have been complex since the latter's independence in 1980. The territory of modern Zimbabwe had been colonised by the British South Africa Company in 1890, with the Pioneer Column raising the Union Jack over Fort Salisbury and formally establishing company, and by extension, British, rule over the territory. In 1920 Rhodesia, as the land had been called by the company in honour of their founder, Cecil Rhodes, was brought under jurisdiction of the Crown as the colony of Southern Rhodesia. Southern Rhodesia over the decades following its establishment would slowly be populated by large numbers of Europeans emigrants who came to form a considerable diaspora, largely consisting of Britons but also smaller groups of Italians, Greeks and Afrikaners. A settler culture that had already existed since the time of company would come to cement fully and the white population began to identify as Rhodesians, often in conjunction with British/Afrikaner/Southern European identities of their ancestors. Southern Rhodesia would go on to participate heavily in both the First and Second wars, providing soldiers and military equipment to the British war effort.
Turkey has an embassy in Harare. Zimbabwe opened its embassy in Ankara on October 3, 2019.
