Zimbabwe to buy more Chinese aircraft
By Tony Hawkins in Harare
Financial Times
Published: August 24 2006 05:59 | Last updated: August 24 2006 05:59
Zimbabwe has managed to buy six more military aircraft from China despite its financial troubles, the government revealed on Wednesday.
The purchase follows another order for six Chinese aircraft made last year and backs up President Robert Mugabe’s intention to boost the country’s ties with Beijing and other Asian countries following the imposition of sanctions by the EU and US.
The Harare government has been criticised for its human rights record, its alleged rigging of elections and its land distribution programme.
The president said in a speech last week that the country was benefiting from his “Look East” policy aimed at strengthening economic and political ties with Asia.
However, some business leaders, who have had to shut down operations because of fuel shortages, were angered by the purchase. Zimbabwe’s economy has shrunk by more than a third since the late 1990s, with inflation at more than 1,180 per cent and unemployment at about 70 per cent.
Trust Maposa, secretary of the Zimbabwe ministry of defence, told a parliamentary committee that the airforce would be getting the aircraft from China before the end of the year but did not specify the cost. He said the aircraft could be used for training as well as “low intensity” attacks.
Mr Maposa said the government was in arrears with three Chinese defence companies that had supplied jets and military equipment. But he indicated the central bank had plans to pay the debts and thanked it for providing US$4.7m (€3.6m, £2.5m) to help fund imports of military hardware.
Mr Maposa also said the finance ministry had increased its allocation to the defence ministry by more than 80 per cent in May this year.
Economists said that would have increased the military’s share of the total budget to 12 per cent from 6.5 per cent in the original budget.
Additional reporting by Reuters