ZANU PF readies for war 
	
	
 By Basildon Peta Special Projects Editor 10/18/01 9:43:45 PM (GMT +2) 
	
	
 ZIMBABWE is amassing huge quantities of arms and ammunition using two African allies in preparation for next year's crucial presidential election, it has been established. Financial Gazette investigations in the past one-and-a-half months have revealed that the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Namibia are helping Zimbabwe circumvent an international arms embargo to buy huge quantities of guns and bullets for next year's ballot. 
	
	
 The arms embargo was imposed on Harare last year by Europe and the United States on President Robert Mugabe's government because of its appalling human rights record. 
	
	
 The investigations show that Zimbabwe is importing and massing an assortment of guns at army bases around the country in preparation for the poll, which is expected to be violent. 
	
	
 Most of the guns have been arriving secretly at Suri Suri airbase in Chegutu before they are distributed to other military bases and some will be sent to farms where self-styled war veterans have established bases to intimidate voters. 
	
	
 The bulk of the weapons have arrived from the DRC in that country's military cargo plane. 
	
	
 The weapons consist of a significant portion of French-made guns, most of which top government sources say will be distributed to war veterans who are central to the ruling ZANU PF party's re-election strategy in the presidential poll. 
	
	
 The sources say Zimbabwe, after the massive depletion of its armoury because of its participation in the three-year-old DRC war, has been finding it extremely difficult to replenish its arms stocks because its traditional and cheaper arms suppliers in Europe are refusing to sell it arms. 
	
	
 This had forced the army to implement some unpalatable measures, including the grounding of most of its entire fleet of Hawk fighter aircraft due to Britain's refusal to sell spare parts. 
	
	
 Virtually all European Union member states have severed ties with Zimbabwe and imposed an arms embargo on the country. 
	
	
 "Although we can still buy a number of arms from countries like Russia and China, a greater part of our fairly priced weapons, ammunition and spares have been sourced from mainly European countries like Britain, Sweden, France and others over the years. We can no longer buy arms from Europe at the moment because of the problems here," said a top Ministry of Defence source. 
	
	
 "We have been left with no alternative but to buy some weapons via our allies in the DRC who have access to some of these European weapons that we have preference for." 
	
	
 Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi declined to comment on the allegations of sanctions busting and the massing of guns at army bases around the country. 
	
	
 "Just avoid that one for now. I am not going to comment on that one," Sekeramayi said yesterday before immediately cutting off his telephone. 
	
	
 Asked why weapons of French origin were finding their way into Zimbabwe in an interview last month, Jerome Sautier, the first counsellor at the French embassy in Harare, and Lieutenant Colonel Dault, the defence attache, said France was not selling any arms to Zimbabwe. 
	
	
 The two said they had no knowledge of the arrival of French arms in the country but said France sold arms to several African countries which could in turn re-sell them to other countries. They said they did not know whether this was the case with Zimbabwe. 
	
	
 "In Africa, we have military relationships with many countries. We have, for instance, sold arms to many French-speaking countries. These arms can in turn be re-sold by those other countries," said Sautier, adding that there was also the possibility of illegal arms trafficking outside the authority of the French government. 
	
	
 The first secretary at the Namibian High Commission in Harare, Mati Jose, said he had no knowledge of Namibia helping Zimbabwe to bust the arms embargo while the DRC's ambassador to Zimbabwe Mawapanga Mwanananga could not be reached for comment. 
	
	
 Authoritative military sources said the army will be training and arming war veterans to ensure that Mugabe is re-elected in the ballot which must be held by the end of March. 
	
	
 A number of bases have been established for the war veterans throughout Zimbabwe, particularly in those areas which did not have army camps. 
	
	
 The sources said the war veterans will operate from these bases, their main objective being to make it impossible for the MDC to campaign in rural areas. 
	
	
 Opposition supporters would also be harassed and ejected out of the rural areas to disable them from voting in their constituencies. A number of war veterans have in fact already been armed. 
	
	
 The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said in a statement that ZANU PF supporters who smashed MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai's vehicle and thwarted his planned meeting with his party's structures in Sanyati last week were armed with guns. 
	
	
 A senior government official said: "I sympathize with those who want change in the presidential elections but judging by the groundwork that ZANU PF is doing to deal with the opposition, I am afraid to say that I don't see that change coming."