Perhaps in a bid to diversify the country’s partners, President
Robert Mugabe left for a five day trip to China. The Zimbabwe President is keen
to diversify the trade partners, as the West tightens its purse. President
Mugabe was among the few African leaders that were not invited for the hugely publicized
US-Africa summit.
The government desperately needs a multi-billion-dollar
package to rescue an economy its own advisers warn may be sliding back to the
chaos of 2008 and negotiations are understood to have been underway over
the
last few months with the Chinese government.
But Mugabe's spokesman, George Charamba, downplayed
expectations, saying there was no truth to media reports Beijing would agree a
US$4 billion package with Mugabe.
Still, Mugabe will be the new chair of SADC, and analysts
are keenly looking whether he will play the double roles; one to bring the
economy back on track after it slid in 2008, and secondly, to see which
direction Mr. Mugabe will steer SADC towards.
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