Diamonds Ensure Mugabe Is Forever -- Miles Amoore, The Australian/The Times
THE president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, used $850m of diamond money to rig the country's elections, intelligence documents obtained by The Sunday Times reveal.
The documents, dated June 3, detail how Chinese and Zimbabwean diamond companies pumped cash into a war chest used by Mugabe to manipulate the results of the election and intimidate the population.
As Zimbabweans prepared for another five years of autocratic rule after the country's electoral commission announced that Mugabe had won the presidential elections with 61 per cent of the vote.
The classified documents reveal how Mugabe's Zanu-PF party received $800m from two diamond mining companies controlled by Chinese investors and senior military commanders in the Zimbabwean army, police and intelligence services. Joseph Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, allegedly gave $85m and the government of Equatorial Guinea gave $92m to the slush fund.
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My Comment: I was not aware that it cost this much money to rig an election in a place like Zimbabwe .... but I guess for the companies that are receiving billions in resource profits .... spending a few hundred million is "chump change".
Update: Zimbabwe: Diamond Revenues Could Be Funding Zimbabwe Election-Rigging, Says Global Witness -- allAfrica.com
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