Zambia says US health deal must be uncoupled from minerals access

Zambia's government said on Monday that it opposed a United States attempt to tie health funding to access to critical minerals, giving details for the first time about why negotiations with Washington over two proposed agreements have stalled.

In a statement, Zambia's Foreign Minister Mulambo Haimbe said the US had offered support of up to $2 billion over the next five years in a proposed health agreement, but that some of the terms regarding data sharing would violate Zambians' right to privacy.

"The Zambian government wishes to state unequivocally that stalled negotiations on Health memorandums of understanding (MOU) are as a consequence of the incorporation of terms that the Zambian Government considers unacceptable such as those relating to sharing of data in violation of our citizen’s right to privacy,” Haimbe said.

He did not specify what health data the US was asking for.

Separately, he said Zambia had objections to the content of a proposed critical minerals agreement.

"A further concern by the Zambian Government is the coupling of the proposed agreements and frameworks to one another such that the conclusion of the critical minerals agreement is made conditional to the conclusion of the Health MOU," he added, "The Zambian Government has been consistent that the agreements must be considered separately on their respective merits."

The US State Department has said that it does not disclose details of bilateral negotiations.

Several African nations have signed MOUs which represent the Trump administration's new approach to foreign aid. Ghana and Zimbabwe have rejected them over data sharing demands.

Haimbe's statement was issued in response to criticism from outgoing US ambassador Michael Gonzales, who accused Zambia of failing to engage on the health funding offer, something which Haimbe denied.