The US and Mengistu

It took the collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar which plunged from $17 to a United States dollar, just before civil war broke out in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in August, to $38 to the dollar by the end of the year, for government to admit that it was not entirely funding its operations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

By that time, no one believed the story although it was first broken by the Sunday Mail. Now the Sunday Mail has come up with another stunning revelation.

It says former United States Secretary of State for African Affairs Chester claimed recently that the American government was instrumental in the peaceful relocation of former Ethiopian leader Mengistu Haile Mariam from Addis Ababa to Harare.

A similar strategy could be used as a face saving move on the current Zimbabwean leadership which the Americans and the British now want to go before the next elections next year.

If indeed, Chester Crocker said what he is said to have claimed to have said, what has the fuss about Mengistu’s expenses been all about if it is the Americans who are paying for his stay here?

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