BULAWAYO – At least 2,500 police officers from Angola’s crack paramilitary unit are expected in Zimbabwe on April 1 to help put down growing dissent against President Robert Mugabe’s government, ZimOnline has learnt.

Sources within the intelligence service said told ZimOnline on Tuesday that the Angolan police officers will be seconded to Zimbabwe under a joint Public Order and Security Co-operation accord signed between the two countries last week.

Mugabe is facing an unprecedented challenge to his rule from the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party and civic groups which has resulted in running battles between the police and opposition supporters over the past month.

Zimbabwe’s police force, which once stood at 25 000 officers, has been severely weakened because of massive desertions by junior officers who are disgruntled over poor pay and working conditions.

Earlier this month, police chief Augustine Chihuri admitted that the police were ill-prepared to deal with violent opposition protests with most junior officers suffering from a dire lack of skills to handle riotous situations.

The sources said the desertions and the police’s failure to deal effectively with opposition protests, had forced the Zimbabwean government to seek help from their Angolan counterparts.

“The Angolans will come in batches, with the biggest batch of 1 000 details coming on April 1 with the rest coming in batches of 500 officers until month-end,” said an intelligence source close to the arrangements.

Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi last week met Angola’s Minister of the Interior General Roberto Leal Ramos Monteiro “Ngongo” to discuss the modalities of the deal.

The sources said Monteiro’s visit was meant to give the Angolan minister a “feel” of the situation on the ground before dispatching the crack paramilitary unit.

Contacted for comment yesterday, Mohadi confirmed the development but said the Angolans were coming on a training exchange programme.

"Yes we signed a memorandum of co-operation last Thursday and it is meant to ensure public order and security for both our peoples and the whole southern African region at large.

“I cannot say how many of the (Angolan) police details will come here but they are only coming on an exchange programme that will also see our own officers going to Angola in the near future.

“We have done that in the past and it is not something new," he said.

Zimbabwe is on political knife-edge as pressure mounts on Mugabe, who is presiding over a deepening economic crisis that has seen inflation zoom past 1,700 percent amid deepening poverty and unemployment. - ZimOnline