ZNA not deployed in Libya: Mnangagwa

Herald Reporters
Defence Minister Emerson Mnangagwa has denied that the Zimbabwe National Army is deployed in Libya, which has been rocked by protests against its leader, Muammar Gaddafi.
He also slammed the private media for misleading the nation by twisting remarks he made in the House of Assembly on Wednesday on the matter.
NewsDay yesterday carried a front page story yesterday headlined “Zim Army in Libya?”
“That is a mischievous way of twisting the truth. For someone who just saw that headline might think we have our soldiers who are in Libya.
“It is mischievous to put such a headline because I clarified everything in Parliament over that issue,” Minister Mnangagwa said.
Mutare Central House of Assembly representative Mr Innocent Gonese had asked the minister to comment on claims that the ZNA was assisting the Libyan leader by supplying mercenaries.
Minister Mnangagwa responded: “I would like to advise the Honourable Member that we do not have that provision in our Defence Act.
“Any person who becomes a member of the ZNA of Defence Forces, even if he retires, he retains the loyalty to Zimbabwe.
“I have several members here on that side (MDC-T side) who are still loyal to me because they are my officers; there is a Major sitting here, they are still loyal to ZDF and not to any alien or foreign forces.
“I am so delighted that you have created an opportunity to educate many more than yourself.”
He also said it was not his ministry’s brief to establish if soldiers fighting in Libya were foreign mercenaries. “I have no mandate in my duties as Minister of Defence to investigate the activities happening in an African country. It is possible that the Honourable Member direct that question to the Minister of Foreign Affairs who might know through foreign relations whether there are any mercenaries from other African countries.”