Local destinado a discutir tudo o que se relacione com Moçambique, em particular, e os PALOP, em geral.
Solicita-se o uso de uma linguagem acessível a todos em geral. Mensagens com termos ou temas inadequados serão apagadas.
South Africa is not involved in a United States plan to oust Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, a senior government official has said.(...)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2209572.stm
Sim, realmente, só pode ser um complô mundial contra o último dos descolonizadores, daqui a bocado vai chamar de "bico de pica-pau" ao Madiba Mandela.
Eu já estou a vê-lo a terminar os seus dias a tomar cházinhos com o Blair na Cornualha, ou na Riviera Francesa.
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Replying to:
Ou, dormindo com o inimigo, ou, qualquer coisa serve para encher os bolsos e manter-me no poder até cair da cadeira como os ditadores a séro.
Andrew Meldrum [MDC] in
Harare
Observer
Sunday March 25, 2001
He was a star of
Rhodesia's national rugby team during the heyday of white
rule. Canny and ruthless, he emerged as a key figure
behind Ian Smith, helping to supply arms to the
beleaguered white minority regime in its battle with the
guerrilla forces of Robert Mugabe.
But last week he
emerged as a central backer of President Mugabe's attempt
to split the white farmers and end their fierce
opposition to 'fast-track' land seizures in Zimbabwe.
Although the farmers rejected his proposal, John
Bredenkamp, the country's wealthiest businessman, will
continue his efforts, as an influential Mugabe ally, to
divide the farmers by persuading them to open
negotiations with the regime.
Bredenkamp, an
international arms merchant, mining entrepreneur, oil dealer
and hotelier, maintains that Zimbabwe's economic and
political crisis will ease once a resolution of the land
issue is reached. Normally Bredenkamp shuns the
limelight, but there is no doubt that he is a key player.
Mugabe strives to make it appear that his chief enemies
are Zimbabwe's whites. But his regime's dealings with
Bredenkamp make it clear that when it comes to money Mugabe
doesn't care where it comes from.
Bredenkamp's
elegant Harare offices boast a museum-quality collection
of African masks and other artefacts. Ministers
breeze in unannounced for quick visits, showing an
unusual familiarity and friendliness .
His
demeanour is affable and charming but those who have done
business with him say this masks a steely determination
and ruthlessness. Aged 55, he is a self-made man who
has devoted supporters and vociferous detractors. He
first rose to prominence as a star of the Rhodesian
national rugby team and he began amassing his fortune in
the tobacco business.
His firm, Casalee, had success in breaking
international sanctions and selling Rhodesian tobacco overseas,
and it became a major international shipping and
forwarding company. Having learnt to evade sanctions,
Bredenkamp then moved into arms trading and reportedly sold
weapons to Smith's government. After Smith's regime fell
and majority-ruled Zimbabwe was born in 1980,
Bredenkamp stayed in the arms-broking trade with offices in
Europe.
Bredenkamp's empire is now global and his
fortune is estimated at between £300 million and £500
million. In the past year he moved his headquarters to
Zimbabwe, where he now spends most of his time.
His
splendid residence, Thetford House, enjoys a commanding
view over the Mazowe Valley, about 35 kilometres north
of Harare. The capital's residents know when
Bredenkamp is in town because they hear his private
helicopter transporting him from his home to the city.
Bredenkamp defends his dealings with Mugabe, saying his
business has required close relations at the very top with
both the Smith and Mugabe governments.
He
maintains he is working to find a middle ground in Zimbabwe
at a point when the country is bitterly polarised,
and that he is attempting to help it out of its
economic crisis. One of his companies, Petraf, is the only
firm bringing fuel into Zimbabwe. His critics claim he
is simply making money as the supporter of a corrupt
regime.
Bredenkamp's companies are major
suppliers of arms to the Congo war, according to the Africa
Confidential news letter, and he has taken over management of
Zimbabwe's mining concessions in the Congo, including
uranium, cobalt and other strategic minerals, following
the failure of another Zimbabwean businessman, Billy
Rautenbach, to make profits from the mines.
Those
concessions were granted as payment for Zimbabwe's support to
the Kabila regime.
Although businessmen say
Bredenkamp is critical of Mugabe, he rejects the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change. Instead, he is said to
favour Mugabe associate Emmerson Mnangagwa.
It
was Bredenkamp's role in the campaign to reform the
white farmers' union that revealed him as one of
Mugabe's strategic allies. He bankrolled the drive by Nick
Swanepoel to persuade the farmers' union to accept the loss
of nearly half its members' land.
Swanepoel,
a former chairman of the Commercial Farmers Union,
tried to convince white farmers to drop all legal cases
objecting to Mugabe's 'fast track' land seizures. He also
called for the union's leaders to step down and to be
replaced by allies of Mugabe.
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Delculpem o aspecto do texto que colei aqui de outro forum e quem quiser implicar que se está a desviar as atenções do "verdadeiro problema" é melhor dizer que isto é mentira e apresentar qualquer coisa a desmentir.