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  • The Problem with Africa

    Pie in the Sky
    By Gavin du Venage
    The Australian | June 15, 2004

    ZIMBABWE has placed a $US200 million ($290 million) order to buy a fleet of Chinese-made fighter jets and military vehicles, even as the African country's depleted food stocks and remaining hard currency run out.

    Reports in Zimbabwean media and South Africa's leading business journal, Business Day, say Robert Mugabe's Government has ordered 12 FC-1 fighters. Six are expected to be delivered this week. The purchase makes Zimbabwe one of the biggest customers of China's new-generation jet fighter.

    After news of the deal broke, Zimbabwe's Defence Minister, Trust Maphosa, confirmed the order before the country's legislature. He said the purchase was necessary to replace the existing fleet of aircraft, which had been grounded because of Western sanctions.

    Once the envy of Africa, the Zimbabwean air force has deteriorated badly since sanctions were imposed by Western countries in protest against the increasingly despotic character of Robert Mugabe's regime.

    In 1998, the Zimbabwean air force played a key role in defending the government of Congolese president Laurent Kabila from a coalition of rebel forces during a bloody civil war. Since then its planes, mostly British-made Hawker Hunters, have been grounded due to lack of parts and maintenance.

    As relations with the rest of the world have grown colder, Zimbabwe has become increasingly dependent on China, one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with Mr Mugabe's government when it came to power upon independence in 1980.

    Since then the Chinese Government has helped build Harare's national sports stadium, hospitals, dams and school dormitories. It has also dug wells and established clothing factories.

    Last month, a high-level trade delegation, which included the central committee of the Chinese Communist Party, visited Harare to discuss trade.

    Chinese construction companies are also involved in building Mr Mugabe's Saddam Hussein-style mansion in Harare.

    Meanwhile, Malaysia's former prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, has confirmed that during his rule the country gave Mr Mugabe timber to build his new mansion.

    Asked if the gift could be interpreted as a misuse of public funds, Dr Mahathir, who enjoyed a close personal relationship with Mr Mugabe, said yesterday: "No, we give timber to everybody because we want to promote Malaysian timber."

    Last year a Chinese state-owned company, the China International Water and Electric Corporation, was awarded a government contract to farm 100,000 hectares in southern Zimbabwe from which white farmers had been driven off.

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles...e.asp?ID=13766

  • #2
    Zimbabwe is one of the countries we tried to GIVE enough geneticly modified seed to feed their population in a matter of months, regardless of the enviornmental and technological conditions. They, convinced the seed was "poison" by "enviornmental groups", refused the shipments. Personally I want all my food geneticly modified and irradiated, but if they would rather starve, so be it.
    No man is free until all men are free - John Hossack
    I agree completely with this Administration’s goal of a regime change in Iraq-John Kerry
    even if that enforcement is mostly at the hands of the United States, a right we retain even if the Security Council fails to act-John Kerry
    He may even miscalculate and slide these weapons off to terrorist groups to invite them to be a surrogate to use them against the United States. It’s the miscalculation that poses the greatest threat-John Kerry

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Confed999
      Zimbabwe is one of the countries we tried to GIVE enough geneticly modified seed to feed their population in a matter of months, regardless of the enviornmental and technological conditions. They, convinced the seed was "poison" by "enviornmental groups", refused the shipments. Personally I want all my food geneticly modified and irradiated, but if they would rather starve, so be it.
      What it comes down to is that Mugabe's a racist. He'd see his people stave rather then take food from "the white man."

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Leader
        What it comes down to is that Mugabe's a racist. He'd see his people stave rather then take food from "the white man."

        The issue is little bit more complex than the way you have put it. Reading up Zimbabwe (earstwhile Rhodesia) may help. Whites were about 1% of the population yet controlled more than 70% of the land and practiced a policy of aparthied against the native blacks until Rhodesia became Zimbabwe in the 70's and thus independent.

        After the transformation, Mugabe confiscated land from white farmers who had huge amount land and redistributed it among blacks.

        This act of land redistribution was not seen kindly by west, hence ZImababwe was put on all kinds of sanctions.

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