By Farai D Hove| US President Donald Trump has appointed a new ambassador who will deal with Zimbabwe’s main political leaders, Nelson Chamisa and Emmerson Mnangagwa.

The new US envoy, Mr Brian Nichols, now replaces Ambassador Harry Thomas Jnr, who concluded his term of service a few weeks ago.

Trump appeared to continue the Barack Obama strategy of appointing African Americans as US envoys to Zimbabwe.

The development comes short in the heels, of a top US senator expressing disappointment with president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration on its commitment to electoral reforms.

Nichols once served as US Ambassador to Peru, principal deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, and as deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Bogota, Colombia.

Nichols is a long- serving member of the US Senior Foreign Service and has served as an American diplomat since 1989. He is currently the Senior Advisor in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs.