[Ricardo Nunes]

Zimbabwe's Fighter Jets Spark Fears of Arms-Race

Sunday Times (Johannesburg)
NEWS
June 13, 2004
Posted to the web June 14, 2004
Johannesburg

ZIMBABWE'S order for more than 240-million worth of jet fighters from China flies in the face of a request by South African Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma that the country stop selling arms in sub-Saharan Africa.

According to a semi-official US defence intelligence publication, Dlamini-Zuma made the request, during a meeting of the China-South Africa bilateral forum, to head off a possible arms race on the subcontinent.

Military sources in Harare say that Zimbabwe will acquire 12 FC-1s as replacements for the Chengdu F-7s, currently based in Gweru. The FC-1, a lightweight multipurpose fighter based on Russia's MiG-33, will provide a credible answer to the challenge posed by the 28 JAS-39 Gripen multi-role fighters that the SA government has ordered from Saab, the Swedish arms manufacturer.

According to Armed Forces Journal International, published in Virginia, US, Dlamini-Zuma's request was at least partly aimed at protecting the interests of SA's state-owned arms industries. But her request also "reveals that South Africa has observed a growing pattern of Chinese arms sales" in its own backyard, and provided "evidence of its serious concern about the matter".

Yesterday Foreign Affairs spokes man Ronnie Mamoepa said he could not recall Dlamini-Zuma making such a request. He referred further queries to his department's Asian Affairs desk, which did not answer calls.

The Zimbabwean fighter jet order also defies a 1998 appeal by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that defence expenditure in Southern Africa be frozen for 10 years at 1.5% of countries' GDP.

Figures compiled for the SA Institute of International Affairs show that, if anything, Annan's plea has been answered with a full-scale arms race between Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa and other countries in the region.

The South African government says it spends only 1.5% of GDP on arms. According to the institute's figures, however, only Zambia and Swaziland have adhered to the 1.5% limit. Zimbabwe (3.4% ), Namibia (3.6% ) and South Africa (1.7% ), it says, have committed themselves to expensive military upgrades.

Uma medida vista como uma tentativa de contrariar o domínio por parte da África do Sul ( que tem encomendados 28 JAS-39 Gripen ).

Sobre o FC-1 :

  http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ ... a/fc-1.htm

[Rui Elias]

12 sucedâneos dos Mig 33 por 240 milhões de dólares?

E terão "escola" para os operar?

À partida não é um grande número, tendo em conta o tamanho do país, mas tendo em conta que o Zimbabwe se encontra numa zona de instabilidade, e que tem enviado tropas para conflitos no exterior, e se quiser ter um papel mais activo no seio da União Africana, não é mal visto.

E sempre é melhor que a "corveta" que o Brasil ofereceu à Namíbia.

É ao preço da chuva!

À atenção da África do Sul, mas principalmente de Moçambique.