Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Libya: Zimbabwean Army Helping Gaddafi in Libya
All Africa ^ | 02/24/11 | Lance Guma

Posted on 02/27/2011 7:09:55 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster

Libya: Zimbabwean Army Helping Gaddafi in Libya

Lance Guma

24 February 2011

Speculation that members of the Zimbabwe National Army are in Libya to help prop up cornered dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, has gained momentum.

This follows Zimbabwe's Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa avoiding giving a straight answer to a question posed in Parliament.

With the eastern part of Libya having fallen to anti-Gaddafi protesters, it's being reported that mercenaries from several African countries, including Zimbabwe, are putting up a stand in the west of the country, including the capital Tripoli, on behalf of Gaddafi.

They are reportedly gunning down unarmed civilians at random and Arab TV channel Al Jazeera said that Zimbabwe was helping to provide mercenaries, along with Chad and other African countries.

In Parliament on Wednesday MDC-T MP and Chief Whip, Innocent Gonese, asked Mnangagwa to respond to reports that soldiers from Zimbabwe are involved. Instead of giving a straight answer Mnangagwa said "...that there are mercenaries who are African and are in Libya - I have no mandate in my duty as Minister of Defence to investigate activities happening in another African country."

More rambling followed as Mnangagwa asked Gonese to "direct his question to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, who might also enquire through foreign relations if there are any African countries participating there."

Although he went on to say there was no provision in the defence act for members of the army "to participate in cases or in events outside the country," he avoided giving a "yes or no' answer to Gonese's simple question.

Zimbabweans will however remember that in 1997 Mugabe's regime, without consultation, sent troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to help the late Laurent Kabila against rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda. The intervention and the huge sums of money spent funding it crippled Zimbabwe's economy, while regime officials lined their pockets with mineral concessions.

Meanwhile it's being reported that Gaddafi is weighing up his options in terms of which country to flee to for sanctuary. Zimbabwe is emerging as a firm favourite, with London-based Libyan political activist Guma el-Gamaty, telling the Australian ABC news channel that "quite reliable sources" believe Gaddafi is readying to flee his country and heading to Zimbabwe.

"Gaddafi's own private plane is loaded with gold bullion and lots of hard currency, mainly dollars, and is preparing to flee to Zimbabwe to stay there with his friend Robert Mugabe. We think this could happen very shortly because the (UN) Security Council is threatening to impose a no-fly zone and we think that Gaddafi will try to escape before this no-fly zone is imposed," Guma el-Gamaty said.

Mugabe is no stranger to giving sanctuary to murderous dictators. Former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam was offered a safe haven in Zimbabwe, despite being sentenced to death by an Ethiopian court for crimes against humanity. He remains happily ensconced in his villa in the suburb of Gunhill, outside Harare, to this day.

Major Protais Mpiranya, a Rwandan army officer accused of ordering the murder of that country's Prime Minister and the Belgian soldiers who protected her, is also said to be hiding in Zimbabwe. Mpiranya, a Hutu extremist who formerly led the Presidential Guard in Rwanda, is wanted for genocide and crimes against humanity by the UN war crimes tribunal.


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: gaddafi; libya; mugabe; zimbabwe

1 posted on 02/27/2011 7:10:05 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster

“”Gaddafi’s own private plane is loaded with gold bullion and lots of hard currency, mainly dollars, and is preparing to flee to Zimbabwe to stay there with his friend Robert Mugabe.”

It’s always about the money.


2 posted on 02/27/2011 7:12:17 AM PST by UCANSEE2 (Lame and ill-informed post.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster

Looting and gunning down unarmed civilians... just like at home. Of course they’re glad to help.


3 posted on 02/27/2011 7:13:04 AM PST by Pearls Before Swine (/s, in case you need to ask)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: UCANSEE2

Money and women.Since I doubt that any of Gaddafi’s concubines are worth their weight in gold,he’ll just buy some new ones when he gets to Zimbabwe.


4 posted on 02/27/2011 7:14:45 AM PST by Farmer Dean (stop worrying about what they want to do to you,start thinking about what you want to do to them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster

Which also means China is looking for a place at the table.

Must be vexing for Imam Obama that his friend Mugabe is sticking his d*ck in the works. Not that Obama is any stranger to that sort of thing :)).


5 posted on 02/27/2011 7:21:06 AM PST by Hardraade (I want gigaton warheads now!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster

And by coincidence Obozo’s Grandma Sarah was received by Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi in Libya last month.


6 posted on 02/27/2011 7:24:41 AM PST by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster

To get to Libya, planes carrying Zimbabwean troops would have to overfly at least three countries—Zambia, Congo-Kihshasa, and then Sudan, or they could fly over the Central African Republic and Chad. It seems the US could easily pressure these countries—if it wanted to—not to allow Zimbabwean overflights.


7 posted on 02/27/2011 7:25:03 AM PST by Rufii
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster

If there are two people in the world that deserve a bullet through the head it’s Gaddafi and Mugabe.


8 posted on 02/27/2011 7:46:33 AM PST by wolf78 (Inflation is a form of taxation, too. Cranky Libertarian - equal opportunity offender.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wolf78

Mugabe could be the next domino to fall.


9 posted on 02/27/2011 7:50:34 AM PST by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Rufii
yeah but it would probably require those countries to actually have working air forces! O&M on anything above a sharp stick is always a challenge for 3rd world (here they are closer to 4th or 5th world!) countries.
10 posted on 02/27/2011 8:05:32 AM PST by Reily
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Texas Fossil

I think the relationship between Zimbabwe and Libya goes back at least 12 years or so. I lived in Zimbabwe in 2001 and most of the time there was no gas or diesel fuel available anywhere. Late in the year Libya signed some sort of agreement with Zimbabwe granting millions of dollars in credit to purchase fuel. Suddenly one could buy gas anywhere. Nobody knows what Zimbabwe owed for the fuel, but shooting Libyan citizens would not trouble Mugabe in the least.


11 posted on 02/27/2011 8:15:26 AM PST by cbvanb
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster

....Just think of how many African countries worst murdererers and criminals we could remove by killing them off in large numbers in Libya.....


12 posted on 02/27/2011 8:22:18 AM PST by DGHoodini (Iran Azadi)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: UCANSEE2

LOL! Like Muhabe has any honor amonbg theies...If this were true, I dobt Khaddafi woulf last a week before Mugabe had him and his entourage killed and takes all of his loot.


13 posted on 02/27/2011 8:25:14 AM PST by DGHoodini (Iran Azadi)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: UCANSEE2
“”Gaddafi’s own private plane is loaded with gold bullion and lots of hard currency, mainly dollars, and is preparing to flee to Zimbabwe to stay there with his friend Robert Mugabe.”

I'd like for Navy Seals to sneak on to his plane some night and replace Mo-Mar's gold bullion with beef bullion.

14 posted on 02/27/2011 8:29:37 AM PST by InvisibleChurch (The great American prostate exam continues.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: InvisibleChurch
replace Mo-Mar's gold bullion with beef bullion

I prefer gold-plated tungsten bullion. It will drive Gaddafi crazy.:-)

15 posted on 02/27/2011 8:42:05 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster (The way to crush the bourgeois is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: TigerLikesRooster

No fly zone idea proposed by Palin was mocked by the left


16 posted on 02/27/2011 8:45:50 AM PST by 4rcane
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Clive

Ping


17 posted on 02/27/2011 8:55:05 AM PST by Carry_Okie (The environment is too complex and too important to manage by central planning.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: blam; SunkenCiv; neverdem
An other worldly ping.

The whole continent is getting almost kafkaesque, or would that by Hieronymus Bosch?

18 posted on 02/27/2011 8:57:17 AM PST by Carry_Okie (The environment is too complex and too important to manage by central planning.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Carry_Okie; AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Hey, anyone who’ll spring for pizzas and two liters of cola can get the Zimbabwe army to intervene, anytime, anywhere. ;’) Thanks CO.


19 posted on 02/27/2011 5:25:38 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson