DATE=8/31/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ZIMBABWE / CONGO (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-266025
BYLINE=MARTIN RUSHMERE
DATELINE=HARARE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The Zimbabwe government has revealed the full
cost of its participation in the civil war in Congo-
Kinshasa, and the figure is far higher than expected -
more than one-quarter of a billion dollars since 1998.
Opposition leaders say they will call for the
immediate withdrawal of all of Zimbabwe's troops from
Congo. Martin Rushmere reports from Harare.
TEXT: Finance Minister Simba Makoni says Zimbabwe is
spending 23-million dollars a month in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, where it has 11-thousand troops
supporting President Laurent Kabila.
Mr. Makoni says Zimbabwe has spent 265-million dollars
on the Congo campaign, adding the nation's economy
cannot sustain expenditure of that magnitude over an
extended period.
Details of the full cost of Zimbabwe's Congo operation
have come, embarrassingly, during a visit by an audit
team from the International Monetary Fund. The I-M-F
suspended all lending to Zimbabwe last year, because
of economic mismanagement and confusion over the cost
of the Congo war.
The government previously told the I-M-F it was
spending three-million dollars a month -- far lower
than the true figure. Economists say this week's
revelations make it less likely than ever that I-M-F
loans will be unfrozen.
Opposition leaders in Zimbabwe were outraged by the
Finance Minister's disclosures.
Gibson Sibanda, vice-president of the Movement for
Democratic Change, says his party will renew calls for
the immediate return of all Zimbabwean troops from the
Congo.
In Mr. Sibanda's words: "We do not think that even one
cent should be spent on the Congo." He adds the
opposition will want to question the minister of
defense because it thinks the actual expenditure is
much higher than this week's disclosures.
Political analysts say it is significant that figures
on spending in the Congo have come out while President
Robert Mugabe is out of the country, attending a
United Nations session in New York.
The analysts say the Finance Minister's statement
signals a division in the government over the Congo
campaign. (Signed)
NEB/MR/WTW/ENE/FC
31-Aug-2000 13:56 PM EDT (31-Aug-2000 1756 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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