Zimbabwe now run by 'military junta': opposition leader

[The Smoking Man]

Here Polly, this was Burma 20 years ago. Now it is happening again in Zimbabwe.

Do you support Mugabe too???

Well, he must be right ... he has the most guns.

Zimbabwe now run by 'military junta': opposition leader

by Fanuel Jongwe
Tue Jun 10, 10:03 PM ET

Zimbabwe is now run by a "military junta", the country's opposition leader charged on Tuesday, vowing not to accept victory for Robert Mugabe in a presidential run-off later this month.

There had been a "de facto coup d'etat" following the first round of the election in March, Morgan Tsvangirai told reporters, with a campaign of violence unleashed throughout the country.

"This country is effectively now run by a military junta," the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader said. "As a people we have been exposed to state-sponsored brutality."

With the UN Security Council prepared for a special debate on Zimbabwe later this week, Tsvangirai insisted he would compete against the president in the run-off despite calls to cancel it in favour of talks amid mounting violence.

Sixty-six MDC supporters had been killed since the first round of the election on March 29, he said.

"The illegitimacy of this regime will be confirmed if Mugabe declares himself the winner," he said of the June 27 run-off.

Mugabe as commander in chief bore ultimate responsibility for the violence, he said. It had so far left 200 people unaccounted for and a further 3,000 hospitalised, he added.

"The current reality is that he has allowed that situation to develop," the opposition leader said.

Asked who else was orchestrating the violence, Tsvangirai said: "We know the people who are calling the shots.

"We know the man who has given tacit approval -- he is the commander in chief."

In addition to the violence, Tsvangirai has faced other major obstacles in trying to campaign, with police detaining him twice last week and barring MDC rallies.

"Despite the conditions on the ground, the MDC is focused on the run-off and has developed counter-strategies of campaigning," he said. "I have been encouraged by people's desire to finish what we have started."

The current climate in Zimbabwe was "not at all" the proper one for an election, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said in an interview broadcast Tuesday.

Speaking to the BBC while in London for a Commonwealth summit, the veteran leader was asked by the broadcaster if the current situation in the southern African nation was right for an election, to which he responded: "Not at all."

"They (Zimbabwe) will have to depend on (African Union election) monitors," Museveni added.

The United States said it is spending several million dollars to help international observers ensure that the elections in Zimbabwe are free and fair.

Tsvangirai's comments came with South Africa at the centre of a new bid to mediate between Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and the MDC.

Some have suggested shelving the run-off to allow for negotiations, and proposals have included making Mugabe president and Tsvangirai prime minister in a transitional government.

Tsvangirai, however, refused to address such possibilities.

"The question of a national unity government does not arise," he said.

The former union leader is only participating in the run-off election under protest, insisting he won an outright majority in the first round. Official results gave him 47.9 percent of the votes against Mugabe's 43.2 percent.

South Africa's Business Day newspaper reported that representatives of Mugabe and Tsvangirai had recently gathered in Pretoria as part of a last ditch effort to draw the country back from the abyss.

According to the newspaper, South Africa's Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi chaired a meeting between representatives of the MDC and Mugabe's ZANU-PF party at the end of May and another was planned this week.

The idea of a unity government received strong backing on Tuesday from Zimbabwe's ex-finance minister Simba Makoni, who finished third in the election's first round.

Makoni said the run-off should be cancelled and talks should be held to form a transitional government that would be in place for five years to give it time to carry out reforms.

Political violence had made it impossible to hold a fair run-off and he pointed out that Zimbabwe, which is facing major food shortages and the world's highest inflation rate, could not afford to organise another vote.

"In the current situation, there is no hope that a free and fair election can be undertaken," Makoni, who split from ZANU-PF to run as an independent, told reporters in Johannesburg.

South African President Thabo Mbeki was last year handed the task by his peers in the region of mediating between the MDC and ZANU-PF. His efforts have so far made little headway and Tsvangirai has called for him to be stripped of his role.

[The Smoking Man]

I guess it is theri fault too that they can't fight Mugabi's 'veterans'?

Do you think they are passing out leaflets or something?

Mugabe deploys more veterans to boost campaign
By Cris Chinaka Reuters - 2 hours 32 minutes ago

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's party said on Wednesday it would deploy more war veterans to campaign in opposition areas ahead of a presidential election run-off marred by violence.

Opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader (MDC) Morgan Tsvangirai accuses the ruling ZANU-PF of widespread attacks on his supporters but says he is confident of victory in the June 27 poll after beating Mugabe in the first round.

ZANU-PF officials in the southern Masvingo province, where the ruling party has lost several parliamentary seats in rural districts traditionally considered safe, told Zimbabwe state television they had stepped up their campaign against "troublesome spots where MDC structures had taken root".

"We are setting up units of war veterans to go to those areas to fan out the MDC, to campaign for President Mugabe, to confront and talk to some company managers who are openly supporting these MDC structures," said retired Major Alex Mudavanhu, ZANU-PF chairman for Masvingo.

"We are going to tell people that ZANU-PF is not going to lose this election," he said.

Mugabe's guerrilla fighters from the 1970s independence war and ruling party youth brigades are regularly used as political shock troops against the opposition and have recently been threatening to launch another bush war if Mugabe loses.

Mugabe's support has been eroded by the economic collapse of the once prosperous country, which he has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980. On Wednesday, Mugabe's government announced tax cuts for the low paid.

Tsvangirai says Zimbabweans cannot afford Mugabe's rule any further. He accused ZANU-PF activists on Tuesday of killing 66 opposition supporters to try to intimidate voters.

Mugabe's party denies waging war on its foes and says "MDC thugs" have killed a number of ZANU-PF activists, including war veterans.

SATELLITE DISHES

On Wednesday, the MDC said the government had launched a campaign forcing Zimbabweans to pull down home satellite dishes, to prevent them getting foreign television stations and limiting their viewing to the state broadcaster.

Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu rejected the charge.

"What I heard was that a lunatic war veteran was going around telling people to remove their satellite dishes and we stopped him because the government is committed to free flow of information," Ndlovu told Reuters.

Tsvangirai, detained twice last week during campaigning, unveiled a 75-seater bus he said would help to win votes.

"We are going to be in every town, in every village to meet the people of Zimbabwe," the MDC leader told supporters.

The bus bore the words: "A new President ready to deliver a new Zimbabwe. Morgan is the one."

At a campaign rally later on Wednesday the 84-year-old Mugabe dismissed speculation he might seek asylum.

"You heard that I might go to Malaysia. No," Mugabe told thousands of residents in a township east of Harare in remarks broadcast on state television.

"Running away from my land, the land from where I was born and from where I grew up until now and then decide to go to another country. There is only one country close to my heart. That is Zimbabwe," he said.

Zimbabweans hope the election will start recovery from economic ruin that has brought 165,000 percent inflation, 80 percent unemployment and chronic food and fuel shortages, and has sent millions fleeing to neighbouring countries.

South African President Thabo Mbeki, whose low-key diplomatic approach to Zimbabwe's crisis has drawn criticism, said his team was doing everything it could to avoid "major problems" in the run-off.

"We are at one with ... most of the international community that the incidents of violence and reported disruption of electoral activities of some of the parties are a cause for serious concern," Mbeki told parliament.

(Additional reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe and Nelson Banya; Wendell Roelf in Cape Town; editing by Paul Simao and Andrew Roche)

[The Smoking Man]

Military 'runs Mugabe campaign'
By Ian Pannell
BBC News, Zimbabwe 

The BBC has obtained documents suggesting that Zimbabwe's military is actively involved in running Robert Mugabe's re-election campaign.

The documents outline plans by ruling party Zanu-PF to harass and drive out opposition supporters, especially from rural areas.

A run-off presidential vote is due to take place later in the month.

More than 60 people have been killed, thousands beaten and many more driven from their homes in related violence.

Testimony from eye-witnesses and victims from across Zimbabwe as well as internal party documents show that violence and intimidation are being used to try to guarantee the re-election of Robert Mugabe against the challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), on 27 June.


The documents suggest that the Joint Operations Command (JOC) is now running logistics and operations.

The JOC is made up of the heads of the military and state security organisations.

Another document lays out the party's tactics, including the use of scarce food supplies as a political weapon.

"Basic commodities should be sold from either people's shops or pro-Zanu-PF shops," it says. "Emphasis should be in party strongholds."

It talks about giving the notorious and feared war veterans, responsible for much of the violence in Zimbabwe, a "leading role in Zanu-PF campaigns".

Fight for survival

The document also outlines the use of covert operations against the MDC including harassing supporters and driving them out of Zanu-PF strongholds and declares a "no-go area" to rural constituencies for the MDC.

The BBC is banned from reporting in the country, which makes it difficult to authenticate some of this material but our investigations found that all of the tactics mentioned in the document are being used by Zanu-PF and its supporters.

The Zimbabwean Deputy Minister of Information, Bright Matonga, denied that the ruling-party is responsible for the violence and he refused to comment on what he described as "illegal documents."

But speaking anonymously, a Zimbabwean police officer confirmed to the BBC that officers had been given orders to support Zanu-PF and turn a blind eye to violence perpetrated against MDC supporters.

We met in a dark car park in Harare. He told me: "We're told to vote for Zanu-PF and they told us it's not now a secret vote, you have to vote in front of your commanding officer."

He complained that the police were no longer independent: "Our police is now politically motivated, whereas it is supposed to be an organisation that stands for not taking part."

Zimbabwe's deputy information minister denies military involvement in the election

Posters supporting Robert Mugabe are plastered across the walls of the capital. The party has brought in private PR consultants to give the campaign a far more positive image.

It is a slick strategy that promotes sovereignty, independence and empowerment. But under-writing the campaign are the resources of the central bank and a monopoly of air-time in the state-controlled media.

Often the MDC and its supporters are portrayed as the perpetrators of much of the violence but all the evidence points the other way and that is also the conclusion of many observers.

The US ambassador to Harare insisted that Robert Mugabe wants to "to retain power through any means possible".

He said Zanu-PF, the military and the war veterans were responsible for most of the violence against those who voted for the MDC in the first round, "ensuring that, number one, they'll be too afraid to vote and, number two, that they're not in their district and cannot vote".

I asked him whether there was any way you could conclude that this election was either free or fair. His answer was swift: "Absolutely none."

We met people across Zimbabwe who all had almost identical stories to tell. Many had been beaten or burnt, many had broken limbs, some had relatives killed, thousands had been driven from their homes.

They were all targeted because they voted for the opposition.

Robert Mugabe has called this an "all-out war". He and his supporters are engaged in a fight for survival and what is now clear is that they will use any means necessary to achieve that.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7449704.stm

Published: 2008/06/12 09:03:55 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

[The Smoking Man]

Mugabe critic on treason charge

The secretary general of Zimbabwe's main opposition party will be charged with treason and faces a possible death sentence, police say.

Tendai Biti of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was arrested in Harare on his return from South Africa.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who faces President Robert Mugabe in a 27 June run-off poll, has also been detained.

Meanwhile, the BBC has obtained evidence suggesting the military is involved in the Mugabe poll campaign.

The documents outline plans by the ruling Zanu-PF party to harass and drive out opposition supporters, especially from rural areas.

Thursday also saw the US accuse Zimbabwe's security forces of seizing a lorry loaded with American food aid for schoolchildren, and distribute it to ruling party members.

Treason investigation

National police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said Mr Biti would be charged with treason "for publishing a document that was explaining a transitional strategy around March 26".

He said he would also be charged for proclaiming victory in the 29 March elections before official results were published.

"For the treason charge he faces the death penalty or life in prison," he said.

"He is in police custody and we are still investigating the matter."

Zimbabwe's deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga told the BBC's Focus on Africa that Mr Biti was due to appear in court soon.

Mr Biti had been aware he faced arrest once he returned from South Africa, where he had been for two months.

Since the first round of the presidential election on 29 March, he has regularly hosted news conferences and acted as a deputy to Mr Tsvangirai.

Mr Tsvangirai was detained twice on Thursday - the first time at a roadblock near the central town of Kwekwe on the way to an election rally.

He was released after two hours only to be picked up later by a different group of police officers. He has now been held four times this month.

Political violence

The US ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee, said Washington was "very, very concerned" about the treason charge against Mr Biti.

He said he had seen the document the charge was based on, and described it as a routine policy plan of the kind any political party would write ahead of an election.

The lorry of American food aid, US officials said, was seized about 6 June.

"We have information that the humanitarian food was then distributed to government party members at a government party rally," US state department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said.

Meanwhile, five people have been killed in political violence in the southern Zimbabwean town of Masvingo in less than a week, BBC contributor Owen Chikari reports.

At least four of those killed were MDC supporters, party official Wilstaf Stemele said.

Mr Tsvangirai said this week that Zimbabwe was "effectively being run by a military junta".

He said more than 60 opposition supporters had been killed in political violence since the March elections and 200 more were unaccounted for.

Mr Mugabe's supporters say the scale of the violence has been exaggerated and blame the MDC for some attacks.

But human rights groups accuse the ruling party of being behind most of the violence.

[The Smoking Man]

Just a reminder.

Remember, the PEOPLE of Africa refused to allow this crap through and China was forced to bring the boat back.

China does not care for people. They care about money:

Chinese ship carries arms cargo to Mugabe regime

77-tonne load includes mortars, rockets and millions of ammunition rounds

    * David Beresford in Johannesburg
    * The Guardian,
    * Friday April 18 2008
    * Article history

The An Yue Jiang is seen anchored outside Durban harbor, South Africa on April 17, 2008. Photograph: AP

A Chinese cargo ship believed to be carrying 77 tonnes of small arms, including more than 3m rounds of ammunition, AK47 assault rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, has docked in the South African port of Durban for transportation of the weapons to Zimbabwe, the South African government confirmed yesterday. It claimed it was powerless to intervene as long as the ship's papers were in order.

Copies of the documentation for the Chinese ship, the An Yue Jiang, show that the weapons were sent from Beijing to the ministry of defence in Harare. Headed "Dangerous goods description and container packing certificate", the document was issued on April 1, three days after Zimbabwe's election. It lists the consignment as including 3.5m rounds of ammunition for AK47 assault rifles and for small arms, 1,500 40mm rockets, 2,500 mortar shells of 60mm and 81mm calibre, as well as 93 cases of mortar tubes.

The carrier is listed as the Cosco shipping company in China.

South Africa's national conventional arms control committee issued a permit on Monday for the trans-shipment of the cargo from Durban to Harare. The head of government information in South Africa, Themba Maseko, said yesterday: "We are not in a position to act unilaterally and interfere in a trade deal between two countries." South Africa had to "tread very carefully", given the complexity of the situation in Zimbabwe, Maseko said.

South Africa was not encouraging the purchase of weapons by Zimbabwe, he said, pointing out that there was no UN trade embargo against that country.

But Tony Leon, the South African opposition foreign affairs spokesman, said the shipment was tantamount to "putting a fuse in a powder keg".

Dockers in Durban were refusing last night to unload the ship. The SA Transport and Allied Workers Union's general secretary, Randall Howard, said: "Satawu does not agree with the position of the government not to intervene with this shipment of weapons. Our members will not unload this cargo, neither will any of our members in the truck-driving sector move this cargo by road."

Despite international criticism, the Chinese government has been a longstanding backer of Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe's authoritarian regime, supplying it with jet fighters, military vehicles and guns. China, or Chinese businesses, are reported to have sold radio-jamming devices to prevent independent stations from contradicting the state-controlled media, and have signed vital agriculture deals. Even the blue tiles on Mugabe's latest 25-bedroom mansion, reminiscent of Beijing's Forbidden City, were a gift from China.

China has in the past used its veto at the UN security council to prevent the Zimbabwe issue from being raised, on the grounds that the country's problems were an internal matter.

In Britain, William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, said last night: "The international community must speak with one voice on Zimbabwe. We call on China, as part of that community, to suspend arms sales to Zimbabwe.

"The Mugabe regime continues to deny the right of the people of Zimbabwe to choose their leaders. To supply arms to it at time when opposition activists are being intimidated and attacked, not only sends the wrong signal, but will harm the reputation of China.

"In addition, it is time that neighbouring states like South Africa made clear that such shipments are not welcome."

The Foreign Office was more cautious. A spokeswoman said that Britain backed an EU ban on arms sales to Zimbabwe and was encouraging other governments to do the same. The FO said it was monitoring the situation and seeking to verify reports about the ship's cargo.

A spokesman for China's foreign ministry said it was aware of the reports about the shipment, but needed more time to look into the matter.

The disclosure about the ship's cargo follows claims by an official from the Zimbabwe opposition Movement for Democratic Change that Chinese soldiers had been seen in the country.

There were some signs yesterday that South Africa may at last be bending under international pressure, when the cabinet joined calls for the release of Zimbabwe's election results.

Zimbabwe's opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, called on South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki, to stand down as the chief mediator in the country's election crisis, as the US criticised African governments for lack of action on the issue. "It is time for Africa to step up," the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, said.

Tsvangirai told a news conference in Johannesburg: "President Mbeki needs to be relieved from his duty."

Mbeki, is also under pressure from Jacob Zuma, the leader of the ruling African National Congress. Zuma has adopted a more hostile attitude towards Mugabe, saying that "the region cannot afford a deepening crisis in Zimbabwe".

[The Smoking Man]

Zimbabwe police haul in opposition's top leaders

By ANGUS SHAW, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 24 minutes ago

President Robert Mugabe's regime struck at his rivals Thursday only two weeks before Zimbabwe's presidential runoff, twice detaining his challenger and jailing the No. 2 opposition leader to face treason charges.

The U.S. ambassador, meanwhile, said 20 tons of American food aid heading to impoverished Zimbabwean children had been seized by authorities last week and given to Mugabe supporters at a rally.

The repeated detentions, coupled with Western accusations that Mugabe's regime is using food as a weapon, dramatically demonstrate the obstacles to the campaign thrown up by the longtime leader.

"This is a government that is taking tremendous and, frankly, awful strides to maintain its power, that is increasingly abusing its own citizens and has raised, or should I say lowered, the bar to a level that we rarely see," State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said in Washington.

White House press secretary Dana Perino, traveling in Europe with President Bush, said the U.N. Security Council should quickly take up the Zimbabwe crisis "to prevent further deterioration of the region's humanitarian and security situation."

Morgan Tsvangirai, who led the opening round of presidential voting 2 1/2 months ago and faces the increasingly autocratic Mugabe in a June 27 runoff, was first stopped at a roadblock in the south and held at a police station for about two hours, his party said.

The party said Tsvangirai went back to campaigning, but was stopped later by another group of police, and it was not known if he was still being held Thursday night. It was the third and fourth times in recent weeks that he was detained while running against Mugabe, who is increasingly unpopular for repressive ways and a wrecked economy.

But the biggest blow was aimed at Tendai Biti, secretary-general of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, who was arrested at Harare airport upon returning from South Africa. Police said he would be charged with treason, which carries the possibility of the death penalty.

Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said the treason charge related to a "transition document" discussing changing Zimbabwe's government.

He said Biti also would charged with making false statements "prejudicial to the state." That charge refers to accusations that Biti announced election results before the official count was released. Under Zimbabwean law, only the electoral commission can announce results.

Bvudzijena said Biti was in police custody but would not say where. He said Biti would be charged "as soon as we are through with our investigation," but would not be more specific.

Biti's detention robs the opposition of one of its most impassioned spokesmen. He has led on-and-off talks with Mugabe's party, and his arrest may signal Mugabe's final rejection of the possibility of negotiating Zimbabwe out of its political and economic crisis.

In a statement, Tsvangirai's party called on police "to immediately reveal Mr. Biti's location and release him unharmed immediately."

The party said it was "extremely concerned about the welfare of the secretary-general given the flagrant disregard for the rule of law and ongoing, state-sanctioned political violence and abductions currently prevalent in Zimbabwe."

South African President Thabo Mbeki, who was appointed by Zimbabwe's neighbors to mediate in the crisis but has been accused by critics of not doing enough, planned to discuss Biti's arrest with Mugabe's government, his spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said.

Mbeki intervened on behalf of Tsvangirai when the leader was detained for nine hours earlier this month.

Tsvangirai, Biti and other opposition leaders had left Zimbabwe soon after the first presidential ballot March 29 amid concerns about their security. Tsvangirai returned May 24 to begin campaigning for the runoff.

U.S. Ambassador James McGee said the Bush administration was "very, very concerned" about Biti's arrest.

McGee said he had seen the opposition party's "transition document" mentioned by the police spokesman, describing it as a routine plan that any political party would draw up to identify priorities if it were to come to power.

But he said a forged version had been circulating that raised issues not contained in the genuine document, including calls for punishing Mugabe hard-liners. "It was just a bunch of foolishness," he told The Associated Press.

McGee said continuing political violence, Biti's arrest and Tsvangirai's detention left him with little confidence that the runoff will be free and fair.

Still, he said, "I don't think we have any choice but to move forward with an election," saying that to do otherwise would be to hand victory to Mugabe.

McGee called on Zimbabwe's neighbors to intervene, saying the Southern African Development Community should send more observers to ensure peace before and during the vote.

Officials of the regional group said 120 monitors would deploy beginning Thursday and plans called for a total of 400 observers by election day — three times the number sent for the March 29 vote.

"We'd like to see three to four times that," McGee said. "Then I think we would have an opportunity" for free and fair elections.

The opposition, McGee and other foreign diplomats, and Zimbabwean and international human rights groups accuse Mugabe of unleashing violence against Tsvangirai's supporters to ensure Mugabe wins the runoff.

The government and Mugabe's party deny the allegations.

Before flying from Johannesburg to Harare, Biti said he had been informed he would be arrested. He said returning under the threat of arrest was "a stupid decision," but said he felt compelled to continue the battle for change. He spoke firmly, but trembled and sounded uncharacteristically discouraged.

"The only crime I have committed is fighting for democracy," he said at the Johannesburg airport, then hugged an aide and disappeared through the boarding gate.

Biti said efforts to negotiate a unity government had collapsed, calling it "sad." He said talks should be taking place instead of a runoff he predicted would only lead to more violence.

The opposition insisted that Tsvangirai be president of a coalition government and that Mugabe had no place in it. Mugabe's party demanded that he remain president.

The U.S. ambassador reported that a provincial governor confiscated a truck loaded with 20 tons of American wheat and beans intended for poor schoolchildren last week and ordered that the food be distributed to Mugabe supporters at a rally.

"This food assistance belongs to the U.S. government, to the U.S. taxpayer," McGee told The Associated Press, saying he had lodged a formal complaint with Zimbabwe's government Tuesday. He said he had not yet received a response.

"The bottom line is, they don't care," McGee said. "President Mugabe and his henchman are now looting U.S. government aid."

Mugabe, in power since the country gained independence from Britain in 1980, was lauded early in his rule for campaigning for racial reconciliation and building the economy. But in recent years, he has been accused of holding onto power through fraud and intimidation and trampling on people's rights.

He also is accused of overseeing an economic slide blamed on the collapse of the key agriculture sector after often violence seizures of farmland from whites.

Mugabe claimed he ordered the seizures, begun in 2002, to benefit poor blacks. But many of the farms went to his loyalists.

___

Associated Press writers Donna Bryson in Johannesburg, South Africa, Matthew Lee in Washington and Deb Riechmann accompanying President Bush in Europe contributed to this report.

[shan]

It seems the quality of our AK47 rifles is really good

By the way, the sanctions are from the western countries but not from the united nations.
If no one from the west turns up in the beijing olympics , our  black brothers and yellow skin brothers will turn up anyway 
Regarding the Arms trade,Russian and USA should rank no. 1 and No 2 ,Not China


As for Zhongguo Zhengfu , it KEEPS ON  losing face this year , no big deal to lose Another once

[Polly]

AK 47, with its small size and short shooting range, is meant for short range combat.





A mortar is "usually used by infantry units. The chief advantage a mortar section has over an artillery battery is its small numbers, mobility and the ability to engage targets in the defilade with plunging fires."

 

RPG is "an inexpensive way to deliver an explosive payload a distance of 100 yards (91m) with moderate accuracy".

Conclusion:  These are all weapons meant for short-range military combat and not for driving away civilians.  What we need to ask ourselves is, who is Zimbabwe's enemy or perceived enemy?

[The Smoking Man]

Are you serious???

You really know nothing of Mugabe's rule?

Try looking him up before you embarrass yourself further:

Gukurahundi

    Main article: Gukurahundi

More than 20,000 Ndebele civilians were killed by Mugabe's North-Korean trained 5th Brigade during the Gukurahundi (“the early rain that washes away the chaff”)[7] ethnic massacres.[33][34] Their leader was Perence Shiri who called himself 'Black Jesus'.[35] Mugabe is said to fear prosecution for this massacre, with bills calling for inquiries into the incident sometimes introduced into Parliament.[7] The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has said that if it comes to power, it will call for an international trial of the massacre.[7] Most of the 20,000 killed were innocent civilians.[36]

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), life expectancy at birth for Zimbabwean men is 37 years and is 34 years for women, the lowest such figures for any nation.[38] The World Bank's 1995 report predicted this decline in life expectancy from its 1990 height of 64 years when, commenting on health care system cuts mandated by the IMF structural adjustment programme, it stated that "The decline in resources is creating strains and threatening the sustainability of health sector achievements."[37]

The Zimbabwe dollar suffers from the highest Inflation rate of any currency in the world. Zimbabwe official statistics reveal that the annualised inflation rate for September 2006 was 1000%. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its World Economic Outlook database, reported inflation in 2006 at 1216%.[39] Inflation reached 9,000% on June 21,[40] and 11,000% on June 22, 2007[41]. It continues to climb rapidly, and reportedly exceeds 100,000% as of April 2008. [42]

While Zimbabwe has suffered in many other measures under Mugabe, as a former schoolteacher he has been well-known for his commitment to education. [7] However, Catholic Archbishop of Zimbabwe Pius Ncube decried the educational situation in the country, saying, among other scathing indictments of Mugabe, "We had the best education in Africa and now our schools are closing."[43]

On 12 to February 13, 2000, a referendum was held on a new constitution. The proposed change would have limited future presidents to two terms, but as it was not retroactive, Mugabe could have stood for another two terms. It also would have made his government and military officials immune from prosecution for any illegal acts committed while in office. In addition, it allowed the government to confiscate white-owned land for redistribution to black farmers without compensation. The motion failed with 55% of participants against the referendum.[58] The referendum had a 20% turnout fuelled by an effective SMS campaign. Mugabe declared that he would "abide by the will of the people". The vote was a surprise to ZANU-PF, and an embarrassment before parliamentary elections due in mid-April. Almost immediately, self-styled "war veterans", led by Chenjerai 'Hitler' Hunzvi, began invading white-owned farms. Those who did not leave voluntarily were often tortured and sometimes killed. Many were forced to drink diesel fuel as a form of torture.[59] On April 6, 2000, Parliament pushed through an amendment, taken word for word from the draft constitution that was rejected by voters, allowing the seizure of white-owned farmlands without due reimbursement or payment[60].

Since these actions, agricultural production has plummeted and the economy is crippled. Once the "bread basket" of southern Africa and a major agricultural exporter, Zimbabwe now depends on food programs and support from outside to feed its population.[61] A third of the population depends on food supplies from the World Food Programme to avoid starvation.[61]

On December 8, 2003, in protest against a further 18 months of suspension from the Commonwealth of Nations (thereby cutting foreign aid to Zimbabwe), Mugabe withdrew his country from the Commonwealth. Mugabe informed the leaders of Jamaica, Nigeria and South Africa of his decision when they telephoned him to discuss the situation. Zimbabwe's government said the President did not accept the Commonwealth's position, and was leaving the group[62].

The United Nations provoked anger when its Food and Agriculture Organisation invited Mugabe to speak at a celebration of its 60th anniversary in Rome. Critics of the move argued that since Mugabe could not feed his own people without the UN's support, he was an inappropriate speaker for the group, which has a mission statement of "helping to build a world without hunger."[61]

In 2005, Mugabe ordered a raid conducted on what the government termed "illegal shelters" in Harare, resulting in 10,000 urban poor being left homeless from "Operation Murambatsvina (English: Operation Drive Out the Rubbish)." The authorities themselves had moved the poor inhabitants to the area in 1992, telling them not to build permanent homes and that their new homes were temporary, leading the inhabitants to build their own temporary shelters out of cardboard and wood.[63] Since the inhabitants of the shantytowns overwhelmingly supported the Movement for Democratic Change opposition party in the previous election, many alleged that the mass bulldozing was politically motivated.[63] The UK's Daily Telegraph noted that Mugabe's "latest palace," in the style of a pagoda, was located a mile from the destroyed shelters.[63] The UN released a report stating that the actions of Mugabe resulted in the loss of home or livelihood for more than 700,000 Zimbabweans and negatively affected 2.4 million more.[61]

As of September 2006, Mugabe's family owns three farms: Highfield Estate in Norton, 45 km west of Harare, Iron Mask Estate in Mazowe, about 40 km from Harare, and Foyle Farm in Mazowe, formerly owned by Ian Webster and adjacent to Iron Mask Farm, renamed to Gushungo Farm after Mugabe's own clan name.[64] These farms were seized forcibly from their previous owners[65].

Mugabe blames the food shortages on drought.[61] Zimbabwe's state-owned press accused former British Prime Minister Tony Blair of using chemical weapons to incite droughts and famines in Africa.[61]

Mugabe has continued to win elections, although frequently these have been criticised by outsiders for violating various electoral procedures.

Mugabe faced Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in presidential elections in March 2002.[66] Mugabe defeated Tsvangirai by 56.2% to 41.9% amid violence and the prevention of large numbers of citizens in urban areas from voting. The conduct of the elections was widely viewed internationally as having been manipulated.[67][68] Many groups, such as the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), assert that the result was rigged.[66]

On July 3, 2004, a report adopted by the African Union executive council, which comprises foreign ministers of the 53 member states, criticized the government for the arrest and torture of opposition members of parliament and human rights lawyers, the arrest of journalists, the stifling of freedom of expression and clampdowns on other civil liberties. It was compiled by the AU's African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, which sent a mission to Zimbabwe from June 24 to 28 2002, shortly after the presidential elections. The report was apparently not submitted to the AU's 2003 summit because it had not been translated into French. It was adopted at the next AU summit in 2005[69].

Mugabe's ZANU-PF party won the 2005 parliamentary elections with an increased majority. The elections were said by (again) South African observers to "reflect the free will of the people of Zimbabwe", despite accusations of widespread fraud from the MDC.[70]

On February 6, 2007, Mugabe orchestrated a cabinet reshuffle, ousting ministers including five-year veteran finance minister Herbert Murerwa[71].

On March 11, 2007, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was arrested and beaten following a prayer meeting in the Harare suburb of Highfields. Another member of the Movement for Democratic Change was killed while other protesters were injured.[72] Mugabe claimed that "Tsvangirai deserved his beating-up by police because he was not allowed to attend a banned rally" on March 30, 2007.[73]

Mugabe's critics accuse him of conducting a "reign of terror",[63][82] and being an 'extremely poor role model' for the continent, whose 'transgressions' are 'unpardonable'.[83] In solidarity with the April 2007 general strike called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), British Trades Union Congress General Secretary Brendan Barber said of Mugabe's regime: 'Zimbabwe's people are suffering from Mugabe's appalling economic mismanagement, corruption and brutal repression. They are standing up for their rights, and we must stand with them." Lela Kogbara, Chair of ACTSA (Action for Southern Africa) similarly has said: "As with every oppressive regime women and workers are left bearing the brunt. Please join us as we stand in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe in their struggle for peace, justice and freedom."[84]

Robert Guest, the Africa editor for The Economist for seven years, argues that Mugabe is to blame for Zimbabwe's economic freefall. "In 1980, the average annual income in Zimbabwe was US$950, and a Zimbabwean dollar was worth more than an American one. By 2003, the average income was less than US$400, and the Zimbabwean economy was in freefall.[85] "[Mugabe] has ruled Zimbabwe for nearly three decades and has led it, in that time, from impressive success to the most dramatic peacetime collapse of any country since Weimar Germany".[7]

Yes ... it appears that those Chinese guns are really popular. Just ask the 20,000 Zimbabweans who ere killed for a start.

And NO it wasn't a UN blockade ... it was the people working at the docks and the truck drivers in all the countries surrounding it that refused to unload or distribute the arms.

Why don't you find out WHY all the people in the countries surrrounding Zimbabwe refused to do this?

[The Smoking Man]

AK 47, with its small size and short shooting range, is meant for short range combat.





A mortar is "usually used by infantry units. The chief advantage a mortar section has over an artillery battery is its small numbers, mobility and the ability to engage targets in the defilade with plunging fires."

 

RPG is an inexpensive way to deliver an explosive payload a distance of 100 yards (91m) with moderate accuracy.

Conclusion:  These are all weapons meant for short-range military combat and not for driving away civilians.  What we need to ask ourselves is, who is Zimbabwe's enemy or perceived enemy?

Wrong question ... Who does Mugabe perceive as his enemies?

The short answer is anyone who opposes his rule.

He knows that if he loses this election, he goes on trial for killing 20,000 of his own citizens.

What is 20,000 or 50,000 or 100,000 more to a man who faces the death penalty?

HIS OWN PEOPLE are his enemies.

[shan]

 
China has improved its export control system of arms trade very quickly and doing very well in accordance with the international rules .

So far the United Nations has also not decided on the arms embargo on Zimbabwe, therefore, this ship arms trade between the two counties is a completely legal transaction, why should China be blamed for ?

However, the arms trade is closely linked to various nation’s interests, Western countries do not support it for their own national interests.


China’s view is different with western countries’ , she is still doing things in accordance with the international norms.

Information shows that regarding the military trade volume with the African countries, the United States, Russia, France, Britain and other countries represent a significant percentage. From 2000 to 2004, conventional arms exports in the international market, the Russian exported 26.9 billion U.S. dollars, and the US exported 25.9 billion U.S. dollars ,while China's conventional arms export was only 1.4 billion U.S. dollars.

The normal military trade is a deal between the two regimes. the transaction period was usually rather long, from the ordering to delivery  , it usually takes 2-4 years.

The China’s shipment of arms to Africa was at the sensitive period--the western countries are attacking Zimbabwe, but although the timing was bad, it does not exceed the normal range. In addition, China's arms exports are with strict management and provisions, the buyer must hold the end-user certificates, which prove itself a sovereign institution . In other words, the arms transaction is not between the political parties or two persons, it’s between the two regimes.

Even the regime changes its people ,the weapons still need to be delivered to that country .

But the western media tried to give the people a wrong impression: China's sale of weapons would aggravate the Zimbabwe's instability, arms sale is for China's interests but not for international responsibility, but NO , it's a legal deal and China is just honoring it's contract signed a couple of  yrs ago.

[shan]

China exported arms to more than 40 countries:

1. Asia

United Arab Emirates, Oman, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Nepal.

2. Africa

Algeria, Cameroon, Mali, Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Libya, who La Liang, Burundi, Gambia, Guinea, Togo, Zambia, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar,  Congo, Mozambique, Burkina Faso The cable, Tunisia.

3. Latin America

Bolivia, Nicaragua, Peru.

4. Europe


and have a look at the list of USA:

in 2003 ,Among the 25 most important countries who imported arms from the United States, 20 countries are listed as non-democratic countries or countries with bad human rights by the unite nations .


The large deals are: Saudi Arabia (1.1 billion U.S. dollars), Egypt (1 billion U.S. dollars), Kuwait (153 million U.S. dollars), the United Arab Emirates (110 million U.S. dollars) and Uzbekistan (033 million U.S. dollars).




      

[The Smoking Man]

Shan ... we are not talking about human rights violations. We are talking about Genocide when it comes to Robert Mugabi.

He exterminated 20,000 people.

The reason there is no embargo on Zimbabwe is because China blocked it using their security council veto ... Presumably so they could deliver more arms.

What was your next question?

[The Smoking Man]

Oh, and why do you keep quoting shit about the USA to me?

I am not an American.

I have also criticised America for shipping arms to other countries and in fact have heavily criticised the USA for arming Saddam Hussein.

What does the USA shipping arms to Saddam have to do with the Chinese arming a man who killed 20,000 people?

In the words of everyone's mother ... 'If the USA jumped off a bridge would all of China go and jump off a bridge too?'

Grow up and see what your government is doing wrong in this world. They are not perfect.

[The Smoking Man]

This was 2006.

Mugabe's policies have made it worse now.

You may also understand why the theft of relief food being sent to school children is such a crime:

Poor, Hungry Zimbabweans Turn to Pet Food

Meat waste from abattoirs and commercial dog food are now a major source of protein for an impoverished population.

By Jimmy Moyana in Harare (AR No. 85, 1-Dec-06)

While Kenyans took offence at the offer of dog food for hungry children earlier this year, Zimbabweans are queuing up at meat suppliers and abattoirs to buy pet food. They crave any kind of meat, and quality products are now far beyond the means of ordinary people.

Not only is pet food popular among poor families, but pigskin and discarded fat from beef also sell well in the country's teeming working class suburbs.

Kenyan officials dismissed as "culturally insulting" the offer of powdered dog food to feed starving children made by the founder of a dog biscuit company in New Zealand.

The offer might have received a warmer welcome from poor Zimbabweans, who had been forced to adopt a vegetarian diet before they discovered packaged pet food.

Beef and pork now cost between 4,000 and 6,000 Zimbabwean dollars (16 to 24 US dollars) a kilogram in the supermarkets. A family of six which would have consumed 12 kilos of meat a month in the days before Zimbabwe's economic implosion began would now need to spend 72,000 Zimbabwean dollars (288 US dollars).

Eighty per cent of the population is unemployed and the majority of people in work earn less than 20,000 Zimbabwean dollars a month.

People buy pet food even though the packaging clearly states that it is not for human consumption. A 500-gram packet of branded pet food costs around 1,250 Zimbabwean dollars – five US dollars - and a kilo of “meat sawdust” which contains meat gristle and bone and is sold as dog meat by abattoirs costs 1,200 Zimbabwean dollars.

Those who cannot afford pet food have to be content with flavouring boiled rape leaves with animal fat cut from beef or pork.

Dignity is a luxury few can afford these days in a country which until seven years ago was the breadbasket of southern Africa. At Colcom Foods in Harare's Willowvale area, there are long queues at the department where pet food is sold.

Out of curiosity, this reporter approached some of the people waiting and asked them what they were planning to buy. One woman from the densely populated Mbare suburb, one of the poorest residential areas in Harare, said softly, "Pet food. What else?"

Upon further probing, the woman, who asked not to be named as she felt ashamed, said the pet food was for her family.

"Pet food is food and it is perfectly edible by human beings," she said. "What can I do when I cannot afford to buy meat? Have you ever tasted it? It's like minced meat and is very tasty. We boil it or fry it and mix it with vegetables. We go through a 500-gram packet of pet food in three to four days. We only eat the whole packet all at once if we want to give ourselves a treat."

This woman is a widow with three children, who sells bananas at Mbare Musika, the biggest vegetable market in Harare. On a lucky day she makes 600 Zimbabwean dollars, enough to buy two loaves of bread.

"I feel so humiliated. I never dreamt in all my life that I would queue up to buy dog meat. I feel worthless - and what is dignity in Zimbabwe? We have all been reduced to nothing, to worthless human beings,” she said. "At least when I cook the dog food or meat shavings, if I am lucky to get them at our nearby butchery, I can taste meat. It gives the vegetables a different flavour and I get the protein that has been lacking in my diet."

She is not alone in her humiliation. Harare resident Patrick Kaseke told IWPR he felt it was important to provide a "balanced diet" to his family.

In what people now regard as the golden past - just seven years ago but seemingly a lifetime away - most people, even the poor, ate well. Now the most important thing is to ensure that the family has something eat.

"Tell me what is better: eating boiled covo [a spinach-like leaf] or rape every single day, or eating meat shavings or dog meat on some days and covo or rape on other days?" asked Patrick. "At my house we call the pet food ‘minced meat’ because I don't want my children growing up knowing that they had been reduced to the level of a dog. It kills their spirit.

“To us pet food is a relish we look forward to. It gives us the feeling of the old days when we had chicken and rice at Christmas."

An unscientific IWPR survey of abattoirs dealing in meat sawdust revealed that it is the fastest selling product and can only be found before 10 am, because housewives queue up early to make sure they get some.

One worker at a slaughterhouse close to the city centre said there was now such a high demand for sawdust, pigskin and fat that they had to put some aside for their own families.

"It is meat," he said. "Sawdust is the remnants when slicing meat. So there is really nothing wrong in eating it. They are cheap products but taste just like minced meat. You must try them."

Both consumers and their government are paying little heed to the long-term implications of a poor diet - particularly among children.

As the government grapples with the huge economic challenges facing the country, nutrition is not on the agenda.