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Zimababwe - Russian
Mercenaries Helping Mugabe?

From Jan Lamprecht
AfricanCrisis.Org
1-24-2


This article says that Mugabe is using deception and is giving young people military training.
 
But what is most interesting is an admission in this article that Russian mercenaries helped Zimbabwe in the war in the Congo!
 
I read a while back that approximately 2 million people have died in the great war in the Congo - and yet this has hardly received any mention in the media. I warned, some years back that this could be the "Great African War" - and yet, according to the media it was a non-event!
 
This is becoming very interesting indeed... Jan

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The Financial Gazette - Zimbabwe
1-24-2
 
Contrary to claims by Zanu PF that its national service youths are not receiving military training, the Financial Gazette this week spoke to some of the graduates of the training programme who all confirmed that military tactics and political indoctrination were the key components of the course run by the Border Gezi Centre in Mount Darwin. The youths said they had been promised jobs in the army and the police force in exchange for spearheading President Robert Mugabe's violent campaign to win re-election on March 9 and 10. But the five youths interviewed on condition of anonymity for their own security said most of them were not happy with the promises of job offers after the presidential poll. They said they would have been happier if they had been given the jobs now.
 
Youth Development and Employment Minister Elliot Manyika last week said the national service youths were not receiving military training because Zimbabwe was not at war and there was absolutely no need for such training. He said the army was well placed to defend Zimbabwe. The government has said the youths are being trained in courses such as carpentry, agriculture, craftsmanship, bricklaying and other technical services. But the youths told the Financial Gazette that it was not possible to have effective training in these disciplines within the short periods the courses were being run. The courses last between one and three weeks.
 
During the training, the youths said they were divided into groups of about 50 to create psychological bonds that would enable them to act as a group once deployed in the field. A substantial amount of time was spent on fitness exercises, followed by gun-handling and shooting lessons. Those who demonstrated political awareness in favour of the ruling Zanu PF were made the group leaders, who regularly interacted with uniformed officers to develop their leadership skills. The youths said they were also given political lessons on patriotism and Zimbabwean history, with emphasis being placed on how Zanu PF helped liberate Zimbabwe.
 
The youths denied that Russian mercenaries, who once helped Zimbabwe in its war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, had been re-hired to conduct the training. "To be honest, I have not seen any white man at the centre - not even Health Minister Timothy Stamps," one youth said. "All the military aspects of the training have been conducted by officials from the army and the police."
 
The youths also emphasised that the military training was not offered to everyone. Those suspected of being followers of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and those who failed to demonstrate sufficient support for the ruling party were withdrawn from the centre. "Although the idea of national youth service is a noble one, everything that is being done now is for the election. Maybe proper national youth service will start after the election," another youth said.
 
The youths said their occasional deployment to do cleaning services in urban areas was an attempt to hoodwink the public about their real mission. "Nobody needs training to be a sweeper," one of the youths said.


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