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Arms and uranium trade pact between Zimbabwe and North Korea

Zimbabwe in ‘arms for uranium’ pact with North Korea   Nehanda Radio 19 Sept 13, President Robert Mugabe’s military henchmen have reportedly signed an arms trade agreement worth millions of dollars with North Korea, in return for allowing Pyongyang access to Zimbabwe’s controversial Kanyemba district, which has sparked a uranium mining race pitting Iran and other powers, Nehanda Radio has been told.

Kanyemba district is about 160 miles north of the capital, and is believed to be holding significant uranium reserves, first discovered in the 1970s by German prospectors, but never exploited due to low world prices at the time.

Several other countries have sought the rights to mine Zimbabwe’s untapped uranium deposits, and these include Russia, China and a failed bid by neighbouring South Africa and Namibia, as they scramble for the Yellow cake which is a key ingredient needed for the production of nuclear bombs.

Harare was recently forced to refute allegations, of a similar deal with Iran first reported by this reporter in 2010, in which Tehran is hunting for uranium, in return for supplying Mugabe with fuel, so as to progress the expansion of its contentious nuclear programme.

Some metallurgists, maintain that the Kanyemba uranium reserves are very large in quantity, and estimate based on initial exploration of the fields that, at least 450,000 tonnes of uranium ore is available, with about 20,000 tonnes being extractable uranium.

Mugabe has been reeling under an arms embargo imposed by Britain and the European Union for over a decade, and has resorted to sanctions busting by courting weapons from Beijing, Russia and now Pyongyang amid reports that, the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) has began a weapons modernisation drive.

The disclosure, which will certainly cause anxiety among Western nations has been made by a “disgruntled” army officer who claims to have a dossier on Zimbabwe’s Military Intelligence Unit (MIU) covert operations……..http://nehandaradio.com/2013/09/19/zimbabwe-in-arms-for-uranium-pact-with-north-korea/

September 20, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AFRICA, North Korea, politics international, Uranium, weapons and war