December 20, 2001
Zimbabwe, Angola moot joint war weapons firm
The Zimbabwean government is involved in talks with the Angolan
government to look at the possibility of setting up a joint company to
manufacture weapons of war. According to the sources, the joint
Angolan-Zimbabwean weapons manufacturing firm would be based in Harare and
manufacture weapons to be used by the two countries while the larger share of
the weapons would be exported.
In the last three years, Zimbabwe’s weapons have been heavily
depleted since President Robert Mugabe unilaterally sent troops into the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in August 1998 to support the regime of
the late DRC president Laurent Kabila. Zimbabwe’s allies in the war are
Namibia and Angola. Last year the Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI), a state
firm, tried unsuccessfully to enter into a joint venture with a Namibian
company to manufacture arms of war. The sources said the latest arms talks had
been necessitated by Zimbabwe’s failure to legally secure arms from
European nations because most countries have now slapped the southern African
nation with arms embargoes. Last year in August, South Africa — which used
to supply ZDI with weapons — temporarily slapped an unofficial embargo on
arms sales on Zimbabwe to try to pressure its neighbour from any further
involvement in the DRC. It is however believed that the DRC and Namibian
governments are helping Zimbabwe to circumvent the arms embargo. Harare is also
said to be amassing an assortment of guns at army bases in the country and
importing arms in preparation for next year’s presidential poll in March.
The DRC war is estimated to be costing Zimbabwe more than $1.5 billion every
month — enough to run a modern provincial hospital for more than six
months. (FINANCIAL GAZETTE)
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