 The Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, has said his country will process recently discovered uranium deposits in order to resolve its chronic electric power shortage. Mr Mugabe, who has close ties with Iran and North Korea, two countries with controversial nuclear programmes, made the announcement on Saturday, state radio said yesterday. It was not clear how Mr Mugabe intended to use any uranium deposits, as the country does not have a nuclear power plant. He unveiled plans in the 1990s to acquire a reactor from Argentina, but nothing more was heard about the idea. Zimbabwe was not previously known to have any workable deposits of uranium, and South Africa has the region's only nuclear power station, at Koeberg. "Zimbabwe will develop power by processing uranium, which has recently been found in the country," the radio quoted Mr Mugabe as saying. "The discovery of uranium will go a long way in further enhancing the government rural electrification programme." Voters in rural areas make a substantial portion of Mr Mugabe's support. | Especially ever since he bulldozed all the homes and camps in the cities... |
Zimbabwe needs 2,100 megawatts of electricity a day but has a daily shortfall of 400 to 450MW and has had difficulty meeting bills from Mozambique, South Africa and Congo for imports from the regional electric grid. It has suffered a chronic shortage of foreign exchange since the seizure of 5,000 white-owned farms and the collapse of an export-oriented agricultural industry. |