The United States has lodged a protest with
the Zimbabwean government over the detention and questioning of US diplomats as
they were leaving a hospital, the US State Department said Wednesday.
"We have issued a protest to the Zimbabwean government for the harassment
of our ambassador and other members of the diplomatic corps," deputy
spokesman Tom Casey said.
"Certainly, it's inappropriate behavior and we wanted to make sure that
the government was aware of our concerns about this issue," he said.
Zimbabwean police detained a the group of US diplomats along with others from
the European Union, Britain and Japan. The Americans had been visiting victims
of government violence following the dispute over the March 29 elections, dpa reported.