Posted on 08/21/2002 5:43:00 PM PDT by Clive
LIBYAN spy Yousef Murgham, summarily deported from Zimbabwe last week, has revealed startling details of Libya's growing economic and military stranglehold on Zimbabwe, which is immersed in its worst crisis for survival.
Murgham's details are revealed in a letter he wrote to President Robert Mugabe before his abrupt deportation to Libya last Thursday amid accusations he was engaged in activities which threatened Zimbabwe's security and interests.
His letter is now part of court documents which his lawyer in Harare, Jonathan Samkange, is using to legally challenge the spy's deportation, which Murgham says was engineered by Zimbabwe's spy Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).
Murgham wrote to Mugabe on April 16 this year explaining several roles which he said he had played to foster solid ties between Zimbabwe and Libya since he was posted to Harare as a diplomat in 1986.
At the time of his deportation, Murgham had resigned from working as a diplomat of the Libyan Embassy in Harare, although he had forged strong ties with senior officials of Mugabe's ruling ZANU PF party.
It could not be ascertained this week whether Mugabe personally read the contents of Murgham's letter but intelligence sources said the President was fully briefed about the Libyan's deportation.
Murgham's letter to Mugabe was prompted by letters written by State Security Minister Nicholas Goche and CIO director-general Elisha Muzonzini to Mussa Kosa, a director of Libyan Security in Tripoli, detailing his alleged misconduct and frosty relationship with Mahmoud Youseff Azzabi, Libya's ambassador in Harare.
In the letter to Mugabe, Murgham says security authorities in Harare had in actual fact made a request to have him recalled.
He points out that he handled a range of assignments for Zimbabwe's government, including the first meeting involving Mugabe and ZANU PF's publicity boss Nathan Shamuyarira and Kosa in Windhoek, Namibia, on March 21 in 1990 which resulted in US$100 000 being contributed by Libya to ZANU PF's election campaign.
Murgham also points out to Mugabe that he coordinated the visit of Shamuyarira to a conference in Tripoli, where Shamuyarira met Kosa and another official, resulting in ZANU PF being given another US$4 million.
He states that US$1 million had been deposited into the account of Jongwe Printers, which publish ZANU PF's propaganda material, helping the party to weather a financial crisis it was facing at the time.
He states that he arranged for a Zimbabwean delegation to visit oil companies and banks in Libya in 2000 to facilitate the supply of fuel to Zimbabwe and initiate discussions on the export of beef to Libya.
The spy reminded Mugabe that he coordinated and accompanied Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge, Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramayi and army commander Constantine Chiwenga to Libya in 2000 where a deal was struck to supply Zimbabwe with two MiG-23 fighter jets and other weapons and ammunition.
He said he coordinated a meeting held at Mugabe's Zimbabwe House between the Presideny and Colonel Mustafa Habishe, a Libyan official, in the presence of Chiwenga in July 2000 which resulted in support for Zimbabwe in the following areas:
- agreement that the Libyan army invests in Zimbabwe;
- receiving a request of the Zimbabwe army to get weapons and ammunition; and
- arranging the training of pilots and technicians on the use of MiG-23 fighters in Libya in liaison with Zimbabwe's Air Force head Perence Shiri and his deputy Henry Muchena.20
Murgham says he played a crucial role in establishing a company on behalf of the Libyan army in Zimbabwe to invest the money of the Libyan army owed by Zimbabwe in the sectors of transport, real estate, farms and general trading.
He says he arranged the visit of Libyan officials Rajab Sowan and Mohamed Mussa, both from the Revolutionary Guard of Libya, for talks with Mugabe in the presence of an official from the CIO, where an agreement was reached to start the building of the Revolutionary Guard in Zimbabwe and launch its investment in the country.
Murgham says he helped ZANU PF with the establishment of what he calls the Gaddafi Sisters Foundation in Zimbabwe in conjuction with ZANU PF politicians Shuvai Mahofa, Nyasha Chikwinya and Jocelyn Chiwenga, the wife of the army commander, during a visit by ZANU PF's women league to Tripoli in August 2001.
He says this led to the three women having a meeting with Mugabe and Gadaffi during celebrations held in Libya at the time.
He states that in the field of coordination with the CIO, he monitored activities of Lebanese, Islamic, Western, Libyan and opposition groups in Zimbabwe.
He says the team involved in these activities involved CIO officers Sydney Nyanungo, Godfrey Madzorera, Mernard Muzariri and a Libyan national identified only as F Utah.
Murgham left Harare in a cloud after the government accused him of working with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and British intelligence and of seeking to unwind a key deal under which Libya is supplying fuel to Zimbabwe.
Unconfirmed Zimbabwe media reports also say he was being punished by Harare for turning his back on a plot to eliminate MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai ahead of the March presidential ballot, controversially won by Mugabe.
The government has not commented on this charge.
It was not known this week when the Libyan's challenge to his deportation would be heard in court.
With Ari Ben-Menashe's Dickens and Madison on Mugabe's payroll? Maybe...who knows...
Mugabe cheated his way to power and he must go, says US***America has issued its strongest attack yet on President Mugabe of Zimbabwe, describing him as an illegitimate leader who won power by fraud and saying it would encourage his people to "correct that situation". Stopping just short of calling for a change of regime, Walter Kansteiner, the US government's Africa policy chief, said America does "not see President Mugabe as the democratically legitimate leader of the country".
Mr Kansteiner said Washington was working with countries in Africa and Europe to "encourage the body politic of Zimbabwe" to "correct that situation and start providing an environment that would lead to a free and fair election". US support being offered to Zimbabwean aid organisations and human rights groups is reminiscent of the West's successful move to undermine Slobodan Milosevic by providing Serbian pro-democracy activists with money, computers and other aid.*** [with Gadaafi LINKS]
In March, Gadaffi announced plans for single a African identity and a union under which the boundaries between states would be scrapped, national armies merged and a single passport introduced. Amazingly, this vision seems to have been largely accepted by African leaders. It has also been decided that, besides the parliament, there will be a pan-African court of justice, a central bank and a common currency. Clearly with the aim of flattering Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, Gadaffi has proposed that the first AU summit should be held in Pretoria next year and should elect a president - presumably Mbeki. parliament, there will be a pan-African court of justice, a central bank and a common currency. Clearly with the aim of flattering Thabo Mbeki, the South African president, Gadaffi has proposed that the first AU summit should be held in Pretoria next year and should elect a president - presumably Mbeki. ***
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