Zim police confiscate Tsvangirai's car

from the Zimdiaspora

Zimbabwe police in Lupane district in Matabeleland Norh region are still holding on to a BMW X5 belonging to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai nine months after it was confiscated.

The car is currently parked in the open at Lupane Police station car park at the mercy of the weather, the reporter said.

Central Intelligence officers and the Police impounded Tsvangirai's armored vehicle on 6 June last year in the run up to the run-off elections and detained the MDC leader at the Lupane Police Station for alleged registration irregularities.

Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Edmore Veterai who won praise from Zanu PF when he struck the new Prime Minister with a rifle butt in March 2007 allegedly issued orders for the continued impounding of Tsvangirai's vehicle.

SADC says okay to 8Billion dollars for Zim

from VOA




A proposal by Zimbabwe to raise between US$8 billion and US$10 billion to fund an economic relaunch and infrastructure reconstruction program received support Monday from the Southern African Development Community, though questions remained as to how much of the package South Africa and other SADC countries would be able to finance...

Bloomberg reported that Zimbabwe's Southern African peers agreed to lobby in favor of and help to finance the recovery package, which was twice as large as what Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had earlier said would be required to turn the country around....

Uh, lobby? Lobby?
You mean, like, ask someone else to give the money?

Law has a long road ahead

from the LATIMES

The new unity government has raised hopes that President Mugabe's regime would face justice for years of political killings, arrests and torture. But many opposition activists remain jailed....

After months of legal wrangling, his mother and father and some other jailed opposition activists -- including Roy Bennett, who has been tapped to serve as deputy agriculture minister -- were finally freed on bail early this month. But they still face trial on charges of terrorism and plotting to oust longtime President Robert Mugabe...



Zimbabwean civic activist organizations support a truth and reconciliation commission, which would be a lengthy and unwieldy process because of the number of crimes. The Human Rights Forum has recorded reports of 40,000 human rights violations since 2001, when it started collecting the information....

Economic recovery tied to political rebirth

from the Times (SA)

EDITORIAL: PRESIDENT Kgalema Motlanthe will today chair a Southern African Development Community meeting aimed at formulating an economic recovery programme for Zimbabwe....

Given South Africa’s recent track record on human rights — barring the Dalai Lama from visiting — it would not be surprising if this delegation believes it can separate Zimbabwe’s economic recovery from its political rebirth.

But that would be a big mistake....

Zimbabwe has a power-sharing government, but this beast of compromise is a poor substitute for the real thing — a democratically elected government with parliamentary institutions that can function freely and fairly.

Without this airing of the cupboards of power, not all the money that is poured into Zimbabwe will find its way to rebuilding the economy and there can be little faith by international funders and donors that their money is not going to fund the avaricious cronies who drove Zimbabwe into the dirt while living the high life under Robert Mugabe....

Zim to arrest Farm invaders

from the IHT:

...

Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday warned people invading commercial farms that they were committing theft and would be arrested and prosecuted, appearing to challenge a key feature of President Robert Mugabe's land policies.

The seizure of white-owned farms to give to poor black Zimbabweans has become a controversial but important Mugabe strategy, and his opponents say this has helped to destroy the agriculture sector that was once the backbone of the economy....

This should make the UK happy.

But as I have noted before, the problem is the way Mugabe did land reform: Essentially getting thugs to take over farms, and often giving them to big shots.

In the Philippines, the law was passed limiting how much land one could own...as a result, my husband's ancestral land is now "owned" by the tenants. We never did get reimbursed but then a lot of times his famiily never got paid much rent either.

But the farmers got the land, not the government...

A year after contested election, hope?

from the AFP:

...

The country's hope now rest on a fledgling power-sharing government between President Robert Mugabe and former opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

One analyst argued that with Mugabe's dominance broken by the March 29 poll last year, the country has reason to be hopeful.

"It brought a sense of hope after ZANU-PF lost its majority in parliament and Robert Mugabe lost an election for the first time since 1980. The era of political hegemony is over," said Eldred Masunungure, a political scientist from the University of Zimbabwe.

The unlikely team have revived optimism in the hyperinflation battered country which has switched to the US dollar and the South African rand.

Within days of the formation of the new government with Tsvangirai as prime minister, state schools and hospitals re-opened and food has begun to appear on empty supermarket shelves.

Runaway inflation tamed?

from TimeMagazine

(photoPhilimon Bulawayo / Reuters)
The Zimbabwean government's dollarization program has stopped inflation and made food prices more constant...

...The decision to "dollarize" Zimbabwe's economy, one of the first acts of the new unity government (including erstwhile enemies President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai), has brought a small amount of stability to the economically ruined country. All civil servants now earn a monthly salary of U.S. $100, while shops and banks accept dollars and rands.The move to dump the Zimbabwe dollar has also stemmed the country's runaway inflation. ...

Chiadzwa mine report

From Bloomberg:

March 26 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe Mining and Development Corp. is extracting up to 60,000 carats a week from the country’s Chiadzwa Diamond Fields, the Zimbabwe Times said, citing Mining Minister Obert Mpofu.

The state-owned ZMDC needs new equipment in order to meet its target income of $600,000 a day from Chiadzwa, also known as the Marange fields, the U.S.-based online newspaper said, citing Mpofu in a speech to parliament in the capital, Harare....

Lawlessness expected to put aid on hold

From IWPR:

...
The two officials told journalists in separate press briefings in Harare that a new outbreak of farm invasions which have disrupted 100 of the 300 remaining white-owned farms does not augur well for the resumption of full international support.

Tornaes said her government would only consider new investments in Zimbabwe after the outstanding issues of farm property rights and the protection of commercial farms covered under bilateral investment promotion and protection agreements have been resolved....


Officials told IWPR the visits by the Danish and Norwegian delegations were part of the government’s move to coax the EU and the West to lift targeted sanctions against Mugabe to allow a free flow of aid.

But analysts said the lawlessness playing out in the farm invasions has killed any chances of getting substantial support from the international community.

“Nothing has changed as far as the international community is concerned,” said John Makumbe, a fiery critic of Mugabe who teaches political science at the University of Zimbabwe. “It would be madness to expect them to bail out the country when farms are being seized in front of their eyes and political prisoners still languish in prison.”...

Zim prisoners starving to death

from SWRadioAfrica:


A major humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Zimbabwe’s prisons, due to lack of food and a total break down of the prison service. It’s reported that inmates ravaged by disease and hunger are ‘dying like flies’ with no solution in sight. This is happening while the ‘chefs’ continue to splash out millions of dollars on fancy cars for themselves.

Although access to the prisons is restricted, reports from relatives and friends of inmates have exposed the dire situation. This past week an estimated 1,300 people at Harare Central Prison were left to starve, as the prison ran out of food completely....

A rights activist, speaking on condition of anonymity on Monday, said the inmates at Harare Central are fed just once a day, at around 3pm, and on Sunday they had a few soya beans, with nothing else.
We were not able to get prison authorities to confirm the situation, but our source said about 10 inmates are dying everyday at Harare Central Prison alone.

“It’s pretty shocking when we’ve got between 1,300 and 1,500 prisoners in a prison and there is no food to feed them. If you are in the bush you can forage, but in a prison there is not much you can do if you are not getting food,” the activist said. Many prisoners have suppressed immune systems, due to HIV infection, a situation that is worsened by lack of proper food.

A glimmer of hope for Kabila's Congo

at link a long report on the war, and a recent cease fire in Central Africa.

too long to excerpt...

and read the various comments.

Asia and pushing safe sex

with all the kerfluffle about the Pope, I think a lot of activists are getting things mixed up.

For example, gay HIV activists are protesting in Paris: But the tremendous number of sexual partners of many gay men would make most people astonished.

The dirty little secret in Africa is that much of the HIV spread is due to genital sores (uncircumcized men and women who use drying agents in the vagina because men like the "dry" feel") .

Make it sexy for a woman to use "anti viral foam" which is not contraceptive, and even the Catholics will be giving it out to those who test positive to protect the spouse.

And make teenaged boys go out and arrange their own circumcision as proof that they have reached manhood (here in the Philippines, the boys arrange it themselves, although nowadays, the hospitals will hold clinics for the boys). Indeed, make it a puberty ceremony, as is done in many African tribes, and in some Muslim areas.

I think a lot of the American view of HIV in Africa is that they think Africans are all promiscuous. I remember a lot of racist jokes when early studies showed HIV came from Monkeys. These racists were well educated people, yet didn't realize that poor people ate monkey meat, and could get infected that way.


But how many HIV cases are spread via poor clinics that reuse syringes and needles because they can't aff0rd to buy clean new ones? H0w many cases are from injections from self proclaimed healers who give out herbal medicine and vitamin or anti biotic injections, without adequate ways to clean the syringes?

How many cases are because of scarifiction cuts, either as medical treatment or for ritual reasons?

As for condoms: Africa should do as many Asian countries: separate the HIV teachings for different groups.

Encourage men to respect women, and be faithful. Promote fidelity as the behavior of a real man. Encourage Mistresses and polygamy for men who have no self control.

For teenagers, stress putting off sex until maturity. You can combine birth control/condom instructions with abstinence : You stress abstinence until one is ready for marriage (which of course may mean lobola paid). Younger women have thinner mucus membranes and are more prone to get HIV, so even delaying sex will lower the rate for girls.

Maybe restore tribal court, to sue the father of the child conceived.

Prosecute those who rape. Make it a priority. A few well publicized cases might make men stop, especially for those raping young girls.

And then work with sex workers and populations that use sex workers (truck drivers, men working away from home without wives) to use condoms.

And employers should encourage conjugal visits, or at least test their men before they go home to visit, and then if they test positive, inform the men of the importance of protecting their wives...

Protesting the Pope for pointing out that fidelity and care in marriage is the best way to stop HIV is stupid: Such lessons need to be taught to counteract the garbage of pornography of promiscuity sold by the west as normal.

But for those already victimized, the "sin" of promiscuity is a lot bigger than the sin of using a condom to stop spreading disease.

Counterfeit condoms

The problem of counterfeit/poorly made condoms is known here in Asia, but I am trying to find some information on Africa.

LINK (original article LINK)


To HIV and Family Planning campaigners, the controversy surrounding the fidelity of the Gold circle condom is a huge blow and added barrier to condom usage in Nigeria. Margaret Oyakhire, Project Director, Community Health Rights Project, told Saturday Sun that it is the right of the people, especially the vulnerable group to protect themselves against STDs and HIV/AIDS.

---------------------

Mugabe appeals for aid

from the BBC

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has made a call for $5bn (£3.5bn) in international aid to revive his nation's shattered economy.

He also repeated his call for an end to "cruel" EU and American sanctions.

Hyperinflation, food shortages and massive unemployment have brought Zimbabwe's economy to collapse.

Launching the government's Short-term Emergency Recovery Programme in Harare, Mr Mugabe appealed to the "friends of Zimbabwe" to come to the country's aid.

"I, on behalf of the inclusive government and the people of Zimbabwe, say: 'friends of Zimbabwe, please come to our aid'," he told business leaders and government officials at the presentation.

The wide-ranging recovery plan lifts stringent price controls that have fuelled black marketeering and inflation. It also calls for reviving agriculture - which has been devastated under Mr Mugabe's land reform programme - as well as mining, manufacturing and tourism.

'Cruel' sanctions

The Zimbabwean leader also called for an end to a travel ban and asset freeze against him and his inner circle.

yup...Grace wants to shop.

SAMinister;West must drop sanctions

from the UK Guardian

South Africa's most respected politician has told the west that democracy can only succeed in Zimbabwe if Britain, the EU and the US reverse their restrictive aid policies against Robert Mugabe's regime.

The finance minister Trevor Manuel used an interview with the Observer to demand that Britain and other donors urgently inject cash into Zimbabwe's treasury rather than give it exclusively to foreign humanitarian agencies.

translation: Give money to the government to be diverted into Grace's shopping sprees.

Tsvangirai and several ministers from the Movement for Democratic Change were sworn in over a month ago. But faced with a bankrupt treasury, they are struggling to raise the £35m-a-month payroll for the country's civil servants, as well as for the politically-crucial police and army.

Britain, which spends £45m on humanitarian aid in Zimbabwe every year, maintains the government is too corrupt to merit direct aid. Other donors share Britain's position and the EU and US have sanctions in place....

Zim death truck information

The SundaySun (SA) via the Zimbabwe mail:

JOHANNESBURG - The truck that killed Susan Tsvangirai the wife of the Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in a road crash is owned by Saviour Kasukuwere a former spy agent in the CIO and Youth and Gender Development Minister in the inclusive government, a South African newspaper The Sunday Sun revealed.

The revelations will boost fears that the death crash was more sinister than a simple accident - although Tsvangirai himself has said he is satisfied with the official explanation. See Report attached below.

Many believe the government is trying to cover up an embarrassing lack of proper security for Tsvangirai. who was injured in the crash.

The investigator a former Harare CID officer, told Sunday Sun that inquiries showed the truck belonged to Cum Oil, a company owned by Kasukuwere. The truck was purchased using USAID funds by a contractor. ...

Kasukuwere has worked in the Zimbabwean government's Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO)'s close Security Unit, a crack department in the spy organisation which reports directly to the President. Its role is to spy on CIO agents and government officials, including Zanu PF politicians....

A confidential internal memorandum in the possession of The Standard, dated March 9 — three days after the accident — said the truck belonged to JSI but was not driven by a JSI driver.

"As you may have heard, there was a tragic car accident on Friday (March 6) in Zimbabwe in which the Prime Minister (Morgan Tsvangirai) was injured and his wife was killed.

"The vehicle involved in this accident was registered to USAid/Deliver (a JSI Project) although not driven by a JSI driver, as far as we know. At this point, further details about the accident are unknown.

Ethiopian tyrant lives in Luxury thanks to Mugabe

Cape Argus via all Africa

Mengistu Haile Mariam.

The former Ethiopian strongman, who fled to Harare in 1991 as Meles Zenawi's rebels closed in on Addis Ababa, has not only remained active in helping his generous host President Robert Mugabe sharpen tactics of repression and political longevity. He has also flourished as a businessman.

Mengistu is graced with around-the-clock security and two mansions in the affluent suburbs of Gunhill and Borrowdale. Mugabe gave him the second so he could switch between the two, after four Ethiopians tried to kill him on November 4 1995.

When Mugabe begun his destructive land seizures in February 2000, Mengistu also got two plum white-owned farms. Those who watch his movements say he drives the latest ML Mercedes Benz and travels to his farms and other places under discreet escorts. All of this is financed by the state...


And the fellow-Marxist who has a death sentence hanging over him in Ethiopia because of his murder of hundreds of thousands of his countrymen during his "Red Terror" reign from 1974 to 1991, had the necessary experience.

"Mengistu did not only play an advisory role, he effectively became an active employee of the CIO," said a source in the dreaded spy agency.

Mengistu worked closely with the security generals in the so-called Joint Operations Command (JOC), the military junta that has run Zimbabwe over the past few years.

He advised them on the "best tactics" for keeping the opposition and civic society at bay.

In fact, some sources claim that the murderous campaigns that Zimbabwe has witnessed over the years are a direct result of Mengistu's "wit"....

Mayor, Activists arrested

from SWRadio Africa



....More MDC activists have been arrested in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s home area. Last week violence broke out in parts of Buhera during the funeral of Susan Tsvangirai, with the MDC saying 10 homes belonging to their supporters were burnt down. At that time 17 party activists and the MDC Deputy Mayor of Mutare, Admire Mukorera, were arrested. The Deputy Mayor was released after being detained overnight, but the 17 activists were remanded in custody, to March 30th.

The arrests continued on Tuesday with a further 26 MDC activists being picked up in Buhera North. MDC spokesman for Manicaland, Pishai Muchauraya, said despite being released without charge at the weekend, the Mutare Deputy Mayor was also re-arrested and had his house raided at 4am on Tuesday. He was taken to Murambinda police station and is expected to appear in court on Wednesday with the latest group.

Muchauraya said that makes a total of 44 MDC members now in detention and accused of committing public violence...

The commercialism of the military (more on hero Zvinavashe)

from African Security Review (2000)

,,,
Since independence, Africa’s military coups have institutionalised forays by the armed forces into the domestic economy. Coups allow military commanders to run both the body politic and economy, hence commercialising the interests of an already politicised officer corps. As a result, the legacy of interest in the domestic economy creates a precedent for further intervention in the body politic that acts as the platform for financial gain in Africa. Successive military regimes in Nigeria created a commercially inclined military ethos, leading to further intervention in the state administration.

To control the military and prevent coups, Africa’s leaders have often found it necessary to buy off the officer corps by bringing it into the patrimonial network.

In Zimbabwe, efforts to control the officer corps through patronage appear to have raised the commercial aspirations of the military élite.

After coming to power in 1980, President Robert Mugabe saw the danger in demobilising the bloated Zimbabwe National Defence Force too quickly, finding it expedient to utilise a different system whereby "... military and intelligence top brass [have been] closely integrated into ZANU-PF’s political structure and are privy to decision-making at the highest level: this is quite apart from their large salary packages and entrees into business through state owned companies."14 However, such a system of indirect control through incorporation is a dangerous balancing act with potentially extreme consequences for the existing regime. In all cases, the partial entrance of the military into commerce alters the military’s corporate identity. This is a significant factor in determining the extent of future commercial inclination....

Later the article discusses the DRC and Zvinavashe:

In exchange for providing security to the Kabila regime, a suitable business environment has been established for private uses. According to Ross Herbert, "Zimbabwean generals, politicians and the ruling ZANU-PF party have invested an estimated $47 million in timber, mining and retail deals."24

General Vitalis Zvinavashe, commander of the ZDF, has allegedly accrued significant financial gains from military deployment in the DRC. Of the nearly US $50 million USD Zimbabwe Defence Industries contract to supply Kabila’s army and the ZDF, a major private beneficiary was Zvinavashe’s trucking company, Zvinavashe Transport, subcontracted through a subsidiary, Swift Investments.25


Apparently, benefits also accrued to the general’s family with his brother, Augustine, having been awarded a Zim $10 million deal for exporting goods to the DRC.26 The military élite thus find themselves in beneficial commercial positions through the deployment of their subordinates, enabling participation in a diverse range of entrepreneurial ventures.

Even the Zimbabwean SPCA is investigating the alleged smuggling of parrots from the DRC by ZDF officers.27

hmm...parrots.
Maybe if the UN can't stop them, we should ask PETA to intervene...

UN report on DRC diamond etc.

pdf file at link from global security

25. The elite network in the Government-held area
comprises three circles of power, namely, Congolese
and Zimbabwean government officials and private
businessmen. Chief figures in the Congolese branch of
the network are the National Security Minister,
Mwenze Kongolo, a shareholder and deal-broker for
both diamond and cobalt ventures; the Minister of
Presidency and Portfolio, Augustin Katumba Mwanke,
a former employee of Bateman’s mining company in
South Africa and a key power broker in mining and
diplomatic deals; the President of the State diamond
company, Société minière de Bakwanga (MIBA), Jean-
Charles Okoto; the Planning Minister and former
Deputy Defence Minister, General Denis Kalume
Numbi, a stakeholder in the lucrative Sengamines
diamond deal and in COSLEG; and the Director
General of Gécamines, Yumba Monga, pivotal in
facilitating several asset-stripping joint ventures
between the State mining company and private
companies,....

COSLEG, a Congo-Zimbabwe joint stock
company, remains a key vehicle for military-backedUnited Nations
II. Change in tactics by elite networks
12. The regional conflict that drew the armies of
seven African States into the Democratic Republic of
the Congo has diminished in intensity, but the
overlapping microconflicts that it provoked continue.
These conflicts are fought over minerals, farm produce,
land and even tax revenues.

Criminal groups linked to
the armies of Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe and the
Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
have benefited from the microconflicts. Those groups
will not disband voluntarily even as the foreign
military forces continue their withdrawals. They have
built up a self-financing war economy centred on
mineral exploitation.

13. Facilitated by South Africa and Angola, the
Pretoria and Luanda Agreements have prompted the
recent troop withdrawals from the eastern Democratic
Republic of the Congo. Welcome as they may be, these
withdrawals are unlikely to alter the determination of
Rwanda and Zimbabwe, and Ugandan individuals, to
exercise economic control over portions of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. The departure of
their forces will do little to reduce economic control, or
the means of achieving it, since the use of national
armies is only one among many means for exercising
it. All three countries have anticipated the day when
pressure from the international community would make
it impossible to maintain large forces in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. The Governments of Rwanda
and Zimbabwe, as well as powerful individuals in
Uganda, have adopted other strategies for maintaining
the mechanisms for revenue generation, many of which
involve criminal activities, once their troops have
departed.....

17. Although troops of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces
have been a major guarantor of the security of the
Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
against regional rivals, its senior officers have enriched
themselves from the country’s mineral assets under the
pretext of arrangements set up to repay Zimbabwe for
military services. Now ZDF is establishing new
companies and contractual arrangements to defend its
economic interests in the longer term should there be a
complete withdrawal of ZDF troops. New trade and
service agreements were signed between the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zimbabwe just
prior to the announced withdrawal of ZDF troops from
the diamond centre of Mbuji Mayi late in August 2002.
18. Towards the end of its mandate, the Panel
received a copy of a memorandum dated August 2002
from the Defence Minister, Sidney Sekeramayi, to
President Robert Mugabe, proposing that a joint
Zimbabwe-Democratic Republic of
the Congo
company be set up in Mauritius to disguise the
continuing economic interests of ZDF in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. The memorandum
states: “Your Excellency would be aware of the wave
of negative publicity and criticism that the DRC-
Zimbabwe joint ventures have attracted, which tends to
inform the current United Nations Panel investigations
into our commercial activities.” It also refers to plans
to set up a private Zimbabwean military company to
guard Zimbabwe’s economic investments in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo after the planned
withdrawal of ZDF troops. It states that this company
was formed to operate alongside a new military
company owned by the Democratic Republic of the
Congo.
19. At the same time, local militias and local
politicians have supplemented the role that State
armies previously played in ensuring access to and
control of valuable resources and diverting State
revenue. The looting that was previously conducted by
the armies themselves has been replaced with
organized systems of embezzlement, tax fraud,
extortion, the use of stock options as kickbacks and
diversion of State funds conducted by groups that
closely resemble criminal organizations....

...
22. The elite network of Congolese and Zimbabwean
political, military and commercial interests seeks to
maintain its grip on the main mineral resources —
diamonds, cobalt, copper, germanium — of the
Government-controlled area. This network has
transferred ownership of at least US$ 5 billion of assets
from the State mining sector to private companies
under its control in the past three years with no
compensation or benefit for the State treasury of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
23. This network benefits from instability in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its representatives
in the Kinshasa Government and the Zimbabwe
Defence Forces have fuelled instability by supporting
armed groups opposing Rwanda and Burundi.
24. Even if present moves towards peace lead to a
complete withdrawal of Zimbabwean forces, the
network’s grip on the richest mineral assets of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and related
businesses will remain. Zimbabwe’s political-military
elite signed six major trade and service agreements in
August 2002 with the Government of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. Reliable sources have told the
Panel about plans to set up new holding companies to
disguise the continuing ZDF commercial operations in
the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a ZDF-
controlled private military company to be deployed in
the country to guard those assets.
The elite network
25. The elite network in the Government-held area
comprises three circles of power, namely, Congolese
and Zimbabwean government officials and private
businessmen....


27. The key strategist for the Zimbabwean branch of
the elite network is the Speaker of the Parliament and
former National
Security
Minister, Emmerson
Dambudzo Mnangagwa. Mr. Mnangagwa has won
strong support from senior military and intelligence
officers for an aggressive policy in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. His key ally is a Commander of
ZDF and Executive Chairman of COSLEG, General
Vitalis Musunga Gava Zvinavashe. The General and
his family have been involved in diamond trading and
supply contracts in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo. A long-time ally of President Mugabe, Air
Marshal Perence Shiri, has been involved in military
procurement and organizing air support for the pro-
Kinshasa armed groups fighting in the eastern
Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is also part of
the inner circle of ZDF diamond traders who have
turned Harare into a significant illicit diamond-trading
centre.
28. Other prominent Zimbabwean members of the
network include Brigadier General Sibusiso Busi
Moyo, who is Director General of COSLEG. Brigadier
Moyo advised both Tremalt and Oryx Natural
Resources, which represented covert Zimbabwean
military financial interests in negotiations with State
mining companies of the Democratic Republic of the
Congo. Air Commodore Mike Tichafa Karakadzai is
Deputy Secretary of COSLEG, directing policy and
procurement. He played a key role in arranging the
Tremalt cobalt and copper deal. Colonel Simpson
Sikhulile Nyathi is Director of defence policy for
COSLEG. The Minister of Defence and former
Security Minister, Sidney Sekeramayi, coordinates with
the military leadership and is a shareholder in
COSLEG. The Panel has a copy of a letter from Mr.
Sekeramayi thanking the Chief Executive of Oryx
Natural Resources, Thamer Bin Said Ahmed Al-
Shanfari, for his material and moral support during the
parliamentary elections of 2000. Such contributions
violate Zimbabwean law.