War lets Zimbabwe enjoy Congo's riches<\/p>\n
By Isabelle Ligner<\/p>\n
HARARE (AFP): Zimbabwe says its 11,000 troops in the
\nDemocratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are there to protect the
\nnation's sovereignty, but Harare's presence has also helped it
\nexploit DRC's vast natural resources, experts said Saturday.<\/p>\n
John Makumbe, head of a Zimbabwean corruption watchdog group,
\nsaid Harare is involved in \"plundering\" DRC's natural riches.
\nOther countries involved in DRC's tangled war are also tapping
\ninto Congo's wealth, but Zimbabwe's soldiers are \"the most
\ngreedy,\" Makumbe said.<\/p>\n
Rwanda and Uganda, who support rebel movements out to topple
\nDRC President Laurent Kabile, are extracting the nation's natural
\nwealth around Kisangani and Kasai, Makumbe said.<\/p>\n
But Zimbabwe is piping the goods directly back from DRC. Since
\nthe war began two years ago, Zimbabwe has established air and
\nrail links to the country, with the national carrier Air Zimbabwe
\nnow flying from Harare to Kinshasa and Lubumbashi.<\/p>\n
Trains from the national railway bring copper ore once a week
\nfrom DRC to Zimbabwe for refining.<\/p>\n
\"This looting has helped make corruption widespread within the
\nruling elite and the military,\" Makumbe said.<\/p>\n
One diplomat here said that \"some in Zimbabwe's military
\nbelieve they've found Ali Baba's cave.\"<\/p>\n
The former Congo has rich mineral deposits, with vast reserves
\nof gold, diamonds and uranium.<\/p>\n
But Zimbabwe's military involvement there is an expensive
\noperation that many experts here blame for the country's foreign
\ncurrency shortage.<\/p>\n
With little public accounting of how much Zimbabwe is
\nbenefiting from Congolese resources, experts and lawmakers have
\nbegun to question whether it's worth propping up a government of
\ndubious democratic credentials.<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe has deployed 11,000 to 12,000 troops since August
\n1998 in DRC to support Kabila, who also has backing from Angolan
\nand Namibian troops.<\/p>\n
But many here argue that the military campaign -- involving
\none-third of the nation's armed forces -- is just an expensive
\nadventure in a war that doesn't directly affect Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n
The two countries do not share a common border.<\/p>\n
\"The government of Kabila is worth no single Zimbabwean fly or
\nmosquito to die for,\" Job Sikhala, one of the newly elected
\nopposition lawmakers, told parliament.<\/p>\n
But even in the ranks of President Robert Mugabe's own ZANU-PF
\nparty, the troop deployment has come under fire.<\/p>\n
\"If at all we are getting free electricity ... or getting a
\nshare of the money from diamond sales or getting compensation for
\nany single death in the war, then we need to be told in order for
\nus to appreciate the worthiness of our military presence in that
\ncountry,\" ZANU-PF deputy Victor Chitongo said last week.<\/p>\n
Mugabe has never hidden his financial motives for the
\nCongolese campaign.<\/p>\n
In 1999, both nations' armies created joint enterprises to
\nmine gold and diamonds in DRC, linking Zimbabwe's Osleg firm to
\nDRC's Comiex.<\/p>\n
In January, the two nations launched another joint operation
\ndubbed Sengamines, to mine diamonds from the Senga Senga and
\nMbuji Mayi rivers, in the eastern Kasai region.<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe is also involved in copper mining in the southeastern
\nKatanga region.<\/p>\n
And Zimbabwe has doubled its imports of electricity from DRC's
\nInga hydroelectric dam -- and convinced DRC to accept Zimbabwean
\ndollars instead of foreign currency in payment.<\/p>\n
That suits Harare well, because its foreign currency shortage
\nhas made it hard to pay electric bills to the other nations on
\nwhich Zimbabwe relies for energy.<\/p>",
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