President Robert Mugabe thanked China for helping Zimbabwe during its ”time of need” after six trainer jets were delivered to the cash-strapped country on Wednesday, state media reported.
The six Karakorum 8 (K-8) jets at Thornhill base near Gweru, about 250km west of Harare, will be used to train air-force pilots, The Herald reported.
”The introduction of the K-8 aircraft should therefore enhance the air force of Zimbabwe’s ability to fulfil its constitutional roles of defending the air space and the territorial integrity of the republic of Zimbabwe,” Mugabe was quoted by the New Ziana news agency as saying.
”In peacetime, the trainer aircraft should enable air-force personnel to perfect their skills through more systematic training and preparation for the war,” he said.
Mugabe described the purchase of the jets as a product of the country’s ”successful” Look East policy, after the European Union imposed an arms embargo on Zimbabwe and a travel ban on the president and his close associates.
”The country’s Look East policy, which has seen Zimbabwe enjoy cordial relations with such south-east Asian countries and Far East countries as the People’s Republic of China, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, India and Pakistan, has given birth to several successful joint agreements with the various countries, one of which culminated in the supply of the K-8 aircraft,” Mugabe was quoted as saying.
A special parliamentary committee heard in June last year that the defence ministry had bought 12 jets and 100 military vehicles from China.
The cost of the six jets has not been disclosed, but the opposition last year estimated the deal of the 12 jets and buses at about $200-million.
Zimbabwe’s air force has since 1980 been using mainly British Aerospace Hawk fighter jets, but senior air-force official Nisbert Chasakara said the fleet is grounded due to a lack of spare parts resulting from the arms embargo imposed by Britain.
Zimbabwe’s arsenal was put to heavy use in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where Mugabe deployed more than 10 000 troops to shore up government forces of Laurent Kabila and later his son Joseph, from 1998 to 2002. — Sapa-AFP