Suspicion Over Zimbabwe Arms Sale to 'Mercenaries'

March 23, 2004
Posted to the web March 23, 2004

Dumisani Muleya
Harare

State-owned Zimbabwe Defence Industries (ZDI) has been under pressure to clarify its role in a murky arms deal that involved the sale of a large consignment of weapons to the alleged mercenaries held in Harare.

Although officials in Harare claim ZDI sold the weapons as part of a trap to net the suspected mercenaries, potentially embarrassing questions are being asked over the state arms manufacturer's role in their capture.


It is suspected that ZDI was ready to sell weapons to the suspects but backtracked after the suspects' plane had been intercepted by Zimbabwean officials after a tip-off from SA.

ZDI insiders say that the firm had been involved in a number of direct arms sales and brokerage on behalf of third parties.

While there has been no public admission that ZDI sold the weapons to trap the alleged mercenaries, the firm's involvement in the Sri Lankan arms disappearance case in 1997 has fuelled suspicion that this latest episode could be another deal gone wrong. A ship carrying a ZDI consignment of 32398 mortar bombs disappeared in 1997, allegedly on its way to Sri Lanka with arms for that country's army under a US6m government-togovernment deal.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200403230240.html