ZIMBABWE will maintain its soldiers deployed in Equatorial
Guinea to provide security to the country’s leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema
Mbasogo as well as train the West African nation’s military, it has been
established.
Relations between Harare and Malabo strengthened after
Harare foiled a coup, known as the Wonga coup attempt, by mercenaries who
sought to topple President Nguema and replace him with exiled opposition leader
Severe Moto in 2004.
In March 2004, Zimbabwe intelligence officers at the then
Harare International Airport (now Robert Mugabe International Airport)
impounded a plane, which had flown in from South Africa carrying the alleged
coup leaders led by former Special Air Service officer Simon Mann.
Mann, together with 69 other mercenaries, was detained in
Zimbabwe before he later cut a deal with Nguema to become his security advisor.
Since 2006, Nguema has visited Zimbabwe almost every year and in 2015 Mugabe
went to Equatorial Guinea twice.
Sources privy to last week’s negotiations between Nguema
and President Emmerson Mnangagwa last Thursday said the two leaders agreed to
extend political relations with Malabo committing to continue its trade and
investment deals with Harare. This comes as it has been confirmed that the West
African nation provided US$5 million for Mnangagwa’s campaign.
Zimbabwe’s general election is on July 30.
Soon after the foiled coup, former president Robert Mugabe,
a close ally of Nguema, sent security forces to Equatorial Guinea to bolster
security in that country. Malabo on the trade front extended a fuel supply
facility of up to 120 million litres to the southern African nation. The
country also has interests in tourism and real estate in Zimbabwe.
“Nguema was on a two-day visit to Harare to meet Mnangagwa
and Mugabe to discuss politics and the security situation back home. He assured
Mnangagwa that he wanted to maintain the cordial relations he enjoyed with his
predecessor,” a source familiar with the developments said.
In January 2016, Nguema asked Mugabe for a security team
comprising of police officers and elite soldiers to help counter terrorism when
the West African nation hosted the African Cup of Nations. The team provided
VIP security and intelligence with Equatorial Guinea meeting all the expenses
of the team.
Questions were raised over the constitutionality and
legality of the deployment which was shrouded in secrecy and controversy.
ZDF spokesperson Colonel Overson Mugwiri told the Zimbabwe
Independent that there was a bilateral agreement between the two countries
formalising the troop deployment.
“There is a bilateral agreement between the two countries,”
he said.
Under Section 213 of the constitution, any troop deployment
for maintaining law and order together with police, peacekeeping or protecting
Zimbabwe’s interests abroad should be approved by Parliament.
“With the authority of the President, the Defence Forces
may be deployed outside Zimbabwe — (a) on peacekeeping operations under the
auspices of the United Nations Organisation or any other international or
regional organisation of which Zimbabwe is a member; (b) to defend the
territorial integrity of a foreign country; (c) in fulfilment of an
international commitment; or (d) in defence of Zimbabwe’s national security or
national interests,” stipulates the constitution.
“By a two-thirds majority of the total membership of
parliament at a joint sitting of the Senate and the National Assembly,
parliament may resolve that a deployment of the Defence Forces outside Zimbabwe
should be rescinded.
“Where Parliament has resolved that a deployment of the
Defence Forces outside Zimbabwe should be rescinded, the president must take
all practical steps to withdraw the Defence Forces, taking due account of the
need to ensure the safety of Zimbabwean personnel and equipment.”
Asked by MDC-T MP Jessie Majome in Parliament in March last
year why government had sent a contingent to Equatorial Guinea during last
year’s African Cup of Nations soccer tournament, then Defence minister Sydney
Sekeramayi said: “With regards to the deployment in question, there was no
situation of war in the country or threat of war and the purpose was not to
engage in combat operation, but merely to ensure a safe and peaceful
environment and safety for the African Cup of Nations tournament in support of
and at the request of the host nation.”
“In light of the nature of business for which the Defence
Forces were deployed, we did not consider it necessary for His Excellency to
cause parliament to be informed because there was no military action, which
would have involved direct loss of life to soldiers through military action,
neither did it involve expenditure of fiscal resources, which parliament
directly controls as all resources were provided by the host nation.”
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