Posted on 06/26/2003 3:14:24 PM PDT by Pokey78
The President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, has mortgaged his country's strategic oil assets to Libya in a desperate attempt to obtain fuel and overcome unprecedented shortages in his embattled country.
The Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, has reportedly long wanted Zimbabwe's oil facilities as part of his plans to create his own "imperial economic empire" in Africa.
The assets, consisting of an oil pipeline that runs from Mozambique's port of Beira to Zimbabwe's eastern city of Mutare and world-class oil blending and fuel storage facilities in Harare, will enable Mr Gaddafi to supply fuel to other southern and central Africa countries, such as Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Swaziland, Congo and Mozambique.
After African leaders rejected Mr Gaddafi's attempt to merge Africa's 53 countries into one country with him as the probable leader of a new "United States of Africa", Mr Gaddafi has continued to try to use his oil wealth to gain more influence around Africa.
Zimbabwean oil industry officials described Mr Mugabe's current visit to Tripoli as a "do-or-die" mission for the Zimbabwean leader.
Mr Mugabe is trying to revive an earlier fuel deal with Mr Gaddafi that stalled last year when Zimbabwe failed to keep its side of the arrangement, after the government's seizures of white farms led to the collapse of agriculture revenues.
Mr Gaddafi immediately discontinued supplying fuel products to Zimbabwe in the middle of last year, plunging Zimbabwe into a crisis which has worsened by the day. The original US$360m (£217m) deal had been expected to last until the end of August this year had Mr Mugabe kept up payments.
But Mr Mugabe's pleas for Libya to resume supplies fell on deaf ears as Mr Gaddafi demanded more assets from Zimbabwe, particularly the oil assets, and labelled his staunch ally Mr Mugabe a "bad customer".
Oil industry officials say Mr Mugabe had not wanted to hand over these assets because of their critical and strategic importance to Zimbabwe.
The oil pipeline is a critical national asset since landlocked Zimbabwe does not have the capacity to meet requirements by road or rail.
But now Mr Mugabe has run out of options as other countries are unwilling to do business with his government, whose policies have impoverished his once-prosperous country. Other suppliers had long discontinued supplies because of non-payment, and Mr Gaddafi was the only one helping Zimbabwe with fuel before he turned off the tap.
As Mr Mugabe left for Tripoli on Tuesday, his government had brought in new fuel-saving measures, including banning motorists from carrying fuel in containers without state permits and introducing coupons for urban transport operators to make "good use" of the little fuel that private importers are able to bring into the country.
Officials said Zimbabwe had in fact agreed to mortgage its key oil facilities under the new asset arrangement deal with Libyan officials who visited Zimbabwe before Mr Mugabe's departure to Libya.
The new asset arrangement plan will settle a bill for US$67m that Mr Mugabe already owes Mr Gaddafi, while securing fresh fuel supplies from Libya.
Mr Mugabe and Mr Gaddafi are expected to seal their private deal during the current visit. However officials said they were nervous as Mr Gaddafi, who no longer trusts Zimbabwe, could demand more.
"Mugabe and Gaddafi will hopefully tie up all loose ends so the deal can take off," said an official. "It's a do-or-die mission because if the trip somehow fails, then Zimbabwe has no other hope of ever getting fuel from anywhere in the world. All other suppliers have severed ties with us due to our failure to pay."
Unless Bush does anything to try to stop Mugabe. Then it will be "all about oil."
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